Woodstock Early Birds, we know there are plenty of local financial concerns (especially with Town Meeting a week from Saturday) but federal budget cuts which could go into effect March 1st are likely to have an effect right here in Woodstock at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park.
We spoke briefly with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller’s Head of Interpretation, Tim Maguire, at Vermont’s only National Park about the issue. He said officials there are aware of the potential for budgets being reduced and are looking at plans should that happen. However, at this point, Maguire says it is too early to say if the “MABI” budget will have to re-worked and most certainly too early to say if any fulltime or seasonal employee positions (Interpretive Park Rangers) will be lost.
We are interested in this issue since, yes, because Woodstock Early Bird has worked as an NPS ranger but also after reading this blog entry , written by Susan Elderkin, from the Washington (State) Trails Association concerning “Sequestration” and Mount Rainier National Park:
The country’s latest fiscal stand-off, known widely as “sequestration,” is set to commence on March 1. Should Congress and President Obama fail to come to a fiscal agreement, one of the primary consequences would be five percent across-the-board budget cuts. Leaked documents from the National Park Service demonstrate the broad and adverse impacts that these cuts would cause, including more than $1.6 million in cuts from Washington’s three national parks. Only two options avoid sequestration — agreement around a solution to the problem or passage of a continuing resolution that maintains funding levels at current (or perhaps slightly lower) rates.
In a memo dated January 25, 2013, NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis directed each park unit to make a sequestration plan that reduces its budget by five percent by February 11. New detailsfrom the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees emerged today about what that would mean at some of the largest national parks, including Mount Rainier National Park.
In the meantime, the Park Service has instituted a hiring freeze. This comes at a time when hiring decisions are usually being made for seasonal staff who handle the massive influx of summer crowds. At some parks, it is possible that no seasonal staff would be hired should these cuts become mandatory.
What would a five percent mean for Washington’s three national parks?
- Mount Rainier National Park, would need to carve $604,000 from a $12.1 million budget. At minimum, this could include the closure of the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center this year.
- Olympic National Park would have to cut $639,000 from a $12.8 million budget.
- North Cascades National Park would face a $365,000 reduction from a 7.3 million budget.
Each of these parks rely heavily on seasonal personnel during the busy summer months. Eliminating these positions would have a serious effect on hours of operation, wilderness rangers, preservation, maintenance and much, much more. These cuts could also have a chilling effect on local economies.
The National Park Service also operates six other sites in Washington that would face five percent cuts: San Juan National Historic Preserve, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve, Fort Vancouver and the Whitman Mission National Historic Sites and the Klondike Gold Rush Museum.
And, of course, these are examples from just one agency. Sequestration would impact the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies in similar ways, and we can assume that they are having similar discussions that have not been made public. Let’s hope that our elected officials come to their senses and come to a budget agreement before March 1.
http://www.wta.org/signpost/sequestration-national-parks
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/21/sequestration-national-parks/1935679/
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 