On October 1, many aspects of the federal government ground to a halt as the deadline to enact federal spending bills passed. For the first time in seventeen years, hundreds of thousands of federal workers were furloughed and federal facilities were shuttered. The impasse ended late in the evening on October 16, but in the more than two weeks that the government was shutdown, these closures and the pause of federal research and conservation efforts took a toll on natural resource management, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

Throughout the media coverage about the shutdown, the impact of closures of federal public lands was a front-page story across the country. National parks garnered the most attention due to the high visitation on these lands. But at the opening of many hunting seasons, the closure of the 329 national wildlife refuges that allow hunting and the 271 refuges that have fishing programs impacted many sportsmen who rely on public lands. In addition, the loss of services such as campgrounds and other facilities as well as the online resources through federal web sites hindered many outdoor recreation experiences.

"I think Congress's failure to act is really a slap in the face to all of us in this country, but particularly to hunters and anglers," commented WMI President, Steve Williams during a telephone press conference held by a number of conservation organizations on October 7. The press conference had wide participation by traditional outdoor writers as well as many in the mainstream media.

Closing public lands not only impacted sportsmen but also local gateway communities, many of which depend on the tourism dollars that come into their towns. After ten days, The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees estimated that $750 million in visitor spending had been lost. In several states, the U.S. Department of the Interior and governors negotiated the reopening of some iconic national parks using state funds. The agreement has eased some pressure in communities near parks like Rocky Mountain National Park that is recovering from the impacts of catastrophic flooding followed closely by the shutdown.

Perhaps less reported, and yet potentially more of a long-term challenge is the critical conservation work that stopped with the closure.  Eighty-one percent of employees within the Department of the Interior were furloughed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stopped doing permitting or consultations for endangered species or environmental assessments. Wildlife research efforts in federal agencies were almost entirely deemed "non-essential." In addition, federally funded conservation projects like the Sage Grouse Initiative were suspended leaving partners on the ground in the lurch. Mule Deer Foundation President, Miles Moretti, noted that habitat projects, many long-term and ongoing, had to be put on hold.

"Some projects are time sensitive. They need to be done in the fall. They may not occur this year, or they may have to be postponed. That's disturbing, because these projects are critical to the management of some of our wildlife species, especially some of our big game animals," he said. "With federal agencies closed down, there's no work going on the ground for sage grouse. We're trying to aggressively work on federal and private lands to keep these birds from getting listed under the Endangered Species Act. We have a very short window until a decision will be made."

Even now, after this stalemate ended, natural resources may not recover from the hit as the federal belt-tightening will likely get cinched down even harder.

"The proposed budget in the House cuts another $27 billion from the budgets," Williams continued. "What was once three percent of discretionary spending is now less than one percent."

Although federal government agencies and programs are once again getting back to work, the continuing resolution that was just approved only funds the government until mid-January, 2014 ? coinciding with the next round of sequestration cuts. This is likely to set up another budget showdown early in the next year. (jas)