Cuts could delay Sun Road opening

Last summer, local businesses praised the National Park Service for the timely opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, saying it boosted their bottom line. This summer, they could be cursing.

A press release by the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees released last week claims that Glacier National Park could delay opening the Going-to-the-Sun Road by two weeks if federal budget sequestration takes effect March 1.

Federal law calls for a 5 percent across-the-board cut in the NPS budget. Glacier Park spokeswoman Denise Germann didn’t deny the veracity of the coalition’s report.

“Anything is on the table right now with decreased budgets, including a delay of the road opening,” she said.

There could also be delays in campground openings, reduced hours at visitor centers and early closings of campgrounds and other facilities, she said. Employees subject to furlough could see their furloughs extended, and fewer seasonal staff could be hired.

At least some of this so far is conjecture. Sequestration isn’t proving to be popular in Washington, as it cuts federal spending in a broad swath across all programs, including transportation, health care and defense.

Congress lately has a penchant for last-minute deals and budget extensions that last a few months. But Glacier Park is quickly approaching the time frame when it fills its seasonal positions. Every summer, between 350 and 375 seasonal employees work at the Park.

The threat of cuts looms as local businesses made it clear they’d like to see the Park open the Sun Road even sooner than in past years. It can take two or three months to plow the 52-mile road up and over Logan Pass.

Last year, the entire length of the Sun Road opened on June 19, which is close to an average opening date. A two-week delay would push the opening into July. Visitation to Glacier Park in 2011, when the Sun Road opened on July 13, was about 20 percent lower than in 2010, which was also the year of the Park’s centennial celebration, and about 13 percent lower than in 2012.

There’s also a human element to budget cuts, noted retired Park superintendent Mick Holm. Holm is not a member of the retirees coalition. Making furlough cuts was difficult for him because employees wouldn’t know if they’d have a job for six or eight or 10 months, depending on funding.

“You felt for those folks,” he said. “They were at the mercy of the government budget process.”

Holm noted seasonal workers and staff subject to furlough are also the employees who deal with the public the most.

“They are the face of the National Park Service,” he said.

Montana Rep. Steve Daines, who was in Columbia Falls last week, said a lot of work was going on behind the scenes in Washington, D.C., on a sequestration deal, but the first-term Republican recognized the value of Montana’s national parks.

“They’re a treasure and an economic asset,” he said.

The coalition’s report details cuts across the National Park Service. In Yellowstone National Park, roads will open later and seasonal employees will come on later or have their furloughs extended, the coalition said.

Even if the budget cuts go through, they won’t be the worst Glacier Park has seen. The Park entirely shut down to visitors in November and December 1995 as President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich battled over the budget. The November closure lasted five days and the December closure went from Dec. 16 to Jan. 6, 1996.