Voyageurs National Park will face cuts ranging from 2 to 9 percent unless Congress acts and the president signs a budget deal before Jan. 2.
The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 will go into effect Jan. 2 as a result of a lack of action by the Joint Selection Committee on Deficit Reduction, known as the “Super Committee,” and Congress to enact a plan to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion, as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
“Cuts equal to or even half (of 9 percent) would be disastrous for many national parks,” states the National Parks Conservation Association.
Voyageurs National Park Superintendent Mike Ward said the act that could cause the cuts is very confusing, “but we understand that depending on what occurs after the election and prior to the Jan. 2 date, there is somewhere between 2 percent and 9 percent cuts that could happen that could directly affect Voyageurs.”
The sequestration act does not allow agencies to consider how it would handle the cuts, he said. Instead, the cuts come out of line items in the budget.
“Until we know how this will affect the National Park Service as a whole, we have no idea how it will affect Voyageurs,” said Ward. “We don’t have 9 percent to just throw away. If it goes into the worst case scenario, it will be a difficult situation for us.”
And while planning for a what-if situation is difficult, Ward said VNP has been striving to be more efficient, which will help the park’s position should the cuts become reality.
“We are already a park that was careful about what percentage of our budget we were using for staff,” he said. “So, we have options. We will look at all we’re doing and figure out a way to best serve the public and the park and give the public what they need to visit Voyageurs National Park.”
Ward said operating a water-based park already comes with costs other national parks do not incur, including fuel for boats and maintenance of water-related resources.
What will not be effected should the act be triggered is the concession contract at Kettle Falls and tour boat operations paid by the public.
“And if we were at a spot where the public was in full support of reservations and amenity fees on campsites and for houseboats, we’d probably see no effect there — but we’re not,” he said.
Ward said the act has not yet been put into effect “and I’m still hopeful it will get worked out. After the election, and if it doesn’t get worked out, whatever cuts we have to have we’ll make sure that we still provide those important services.”
The most difficult part of a park budget is personnel, he said.
“We want to make sure the positions we have are the most important to fulfill the needs of the public,” he said. “We hope in terms of jobs, we don’t see an effect, but in terms of service, we’re just not sure what effect it will have on us.”
