Cuts would hit home for park, fish hatchery

Most, if not all, federal agencies will feel some pain at the local level if nothing is done to head off the impending fiscal cliff, with tax increases and automatic spending cuts kicking in at the beginning of the new year.

But it is not clear exactly how “sequestration” spending cuts will be implemented among the federal government’s many agencies, according to John Garder, budget and appropriations specialist for the National Parks Conservation Association.

 “No one is really sure exactly how it would operate because it is unprecedented,” Garder said in an interview from the Washington, D.C., area. “The administration is tight-lipped about how sequestration would be implemented.”

But for the National Park Service and Glacier National Park, the broad strokes of sequestration are fairly clear.

“Come Jan. 2, we’re looking at a $218 million cut to the National Park Service,” Garder said. “In all practical terms it would mean a cut of more than 10 percent.”

Garder anticipates that the National Park Service immediately would suspend new grants, construction and other projects. And if the process continued without a remedy from the administration and Congress, Garder expects seasonal rangers would not be hired and furloughs might be implemented for year-round employees.

Some parks could be closed on a seasonal basis or operate under more limited hours, he said.

“If it lasted any significant amount of time, it would be deeply damaging to the National Park Service,” he said.

A cut of $200 million far exceeds the $150 million spent annually on National Park Service seasonal staff. And the cuts likely extend to a maintenance backlog that the National Parks Conservation Association pegs at about $11.5 billion, with about $3 billion to $4 billion considered “critical” maintenance necessary to ensure parks can function “at the most basic level,” Garder said.

Most park superintendents have discretion over only about 10 percent of their budgets, he said. “They will be left with very few options and it will be difficult for them.”

Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright has retired, and a replacement is expected by spring.

Glacier Park officials on leave could not be reached for comment about fiscal-cliff effects, and neither could officials with the Flathead National Forest, which likely would face similar budget-cutting circumstances.

But the consequences of the fiscal cliff would extend to more obscure outposts of the federal government such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s fish hatchery at Creston.

Hatchery Manager Mark Maskill said he has not received a “lot of direction” from regional headquarters in Denver, but he is aware that contingency planning is under way.

“In Denver, they’ve done some planning for the eight-state region and taken a look at what is feasible,” said Maskill, adding that the service is planning on spending cuts of up to 12 percent.

“We will have a trickle-down effect,” he said. “Once direction gets to the regional office, they will send it down to the field.”

Maskill said furloughs may be possible, but the service and other federal agencies may have to identify people who are considered “essential” personnel.

“We have to have someone at the hatchery all of the time,” he said, noting that the hatchery will soon have more than 1.1 million rainbow trout fry on the premises that require labor-intensive maintenance.

“This is a critical time for us. We have a full contingent of fish for next year’s stocking,” Maskill said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.