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I have written many times, and with increasing frequency, about how federal land management agencies are closing and shuttering public recreation facilities. Budgets are being cut and/or less money is making its way to the ground as a result of allocated tax-dollars being diverted from their intended use by Washington bureaucrats and/or Regional mangers.
As a consequence of field managers being starved of adequate operating budgets, public services and facilities are disappearing. Land managers at all levels in all agencies are engaged in the process of identifying facilities that can be operated by private concessionaires, or by volunteers or through the collection of ever-higher user fees. The rush to pare the size of government and privatize all that can be privatized is now, or will very soon be, in virtual free fall.
That said, the problem is not that there isn't enough money. Yet as the Treasury is bled dry, money shortages will increasingly threaten every social service and public benefit traditionally associated with government. The problem is the prevailing IDEOLOGY within Washington DC and its aggressive and unbridled implementation, freed from the checks and balances long associated with our constitutional republic.
We've been witnessing this process unfold in the National Park System and within the US Forest Service. A quick search of the Wild Wilderness website will provide numerous examples. Pasted below is the newest example of this snowballing process with deep cuts and massive closures now occurring within US Fish and Wildlife System.
I'm going to make a suggestion. We, as a nation, can either hang onto our hats and prepare ourselves for a wild ride, or we can bring about the change in government we want to see. The choice is ours to make.
Scott
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Staff Cutbacks Cripple National Wildlife Refuges
*WASHINGTON, DC*, October 27, 2006 (ENS) - A federal plan made public
Thursday would mothball the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge -
established a century ago by President Theodore Roosevelt - and shutter
dozens of others across the Southeast, while cutting scores of the
refuge personnel.
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, the nation's first
national wildlife refuge, will lose the staff assigned to working with
visitors and eliminate active outreach to the public.
The plan to eliminate the refuge's visitor services is among the
cutbacks contained in the new Workforce Management Plan of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region.
The 128 national wildlife refuges in the Southeast Region support more
visitors than those in any other region: more than 11 million visitors
annually.
Conservationists say funding to support the 96 million acre National
Wildlife Refuge System has reached a crisis point. "Pelican Island is
symbolic of our nation's commitment to protect our most critical bird
and wildlife habitat," said Bill Meadows, president of The Wilderness
Society.
"Sadly, Pelican Island is now a stark example of how Congress and the
administration have failed to provide the funding and attention needed
to sustain our wildlife legacy," he said.
According to the Workforce Management Plan, the Fish and Wildlife
Service's Southeast Region will eliminate as many as 80 full time
refuge employees over the next three years.
The loss of jobs follows the elimination of 64 field positions from
2004-2006 and will result in a 20 percent staffing reduction.
The Southeast Region currently manages nearly 4 million acres in 128 of the nation's 545 national wildlife refuges.
Other cuts included in the Workforce Management Plan:
* Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee lost its only
public-use staff, causing a 90 percent reduction in environmental
education programs, which will affect over 2,000 local school children.
* Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Florida lost two park
rangers requiring the closure of the visitor center for two days a week
and reducing environmental education for 55,000 school children.
* Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia lost two park
rangers requiring the closure of the East Entrance for two days a week,
resulting in a decline of 50,000 visits annually.
* Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge Complex will eliminate
surveys for sea turtles and other marine resources on more than 400,000
acres within Great White Heron and Key West Refuges.
* Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge Alabama lost its
entire biological program, which supports three national wildlife
refuges and affects over 15 threatened and endangered species.
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