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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019
Shutdown delays, disrupts environmental studies
By JOHN FLESHER
and TAMMY WEBBER
Associated Press
The rainwater collection
system is broken at the envi-
ronmental research station
on a remote, rocky Pacifi c
island off the California
coast. So is a crane used to
hoist small boats in and out
of the water. A two-year
supply of diesel fuel for the
power generators is almost
gone.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service personnel ordinarily
would help with such prob-
lems. But they haven’t been
around since the partial fed-
eral government shutdown
began a month ago, forcing
researchers with the non-
profi t Point Blue Conserva-
tion Science to rely on vol-
unteers to haul bottled water
and 5-gallon jugs of diesel to
the Farallon Islands National
Refuge, about 30 miles from
San Francisco.
Still, the scientists are
pressing on with their
long-running study of ele-
phant seals during the cru-
cial winter breeding sea-
son. They tag and monitor
the lumbering creatures,
whose numbers are recov-
ering after being hunted to
near-extinction, and study
how warming oceans could
affect them.
“We’ve found some cre-
ative solutions, but things
will get more strained the
longer the shutdown is con-
tinued,” said Pete Warzy-
bok, a marine ecologist with
Point Blue.
The impasse has delayed,
disrupted and now threat-
ens to derail environmental
research projects across the
nation — and not just those
AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Elephant seals lounge in a slumbering pile in a sandy cove at the Farallon Islands National
Refuge in California in 2005.
conducted by government
agencies.
Scientists with universi-
ties, nonprofi t organizations
and private companies say
their inability to collaborate
with federal partners, gain
access to federal lands and
laboratories, and secure fed-
eral funding is jeopardizing
their work on a vast array of
subjects, including invasive
and endangered species and
air and water quality.
Researchers might miss
court-ordered deadlines for
reports involving endan-
gered plants or animals.
Warm-weather fi eld studies
that must be planned months
in advance could be delayed
or canceled. And studies that
rely on strict monitoring or
testing schedules could be
compromised.
Depending on how long
the shutdown lasts, the dam-
age could range from incon-
venient to irreparable.
Scientists with a con-
stant presence on the Far-
allones since 1968 might
have to leave if their agree-
ment with the government
isn’t renewed by the end
of March. Besides open-
ing a gap in decades of data
collection, their absence
would leave the islands and
their wildlife vulnerable to
trespassers.
Nobody from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
was available to respond
because employees are not
allowed to work during the
shutdown, according to
voicemail messages.
Scientist
Harvey
Bootsma needs to book a
National Park Service boat
for summer experiments
involving quagga mussels
in Lake Michigan, where
the invasive pests are sus-
pected of causing a decline
in perch, whitefi sh and other
prized species.
If the government doesn’t
reopen soon, “it could
really mess us up,” said
Bootsma, of the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
One increasingly likely
casualty is the world’s lon-
gest continuous study of a
predator-prey relationship in
one location. For 60 years,
biologists have documented
population shifts and inter-
actions between gray wolves
and moose at Isle Royale
National Park in Lake Supe-
rior. Much of the data is col-
lected during winter, when
scientists use planes to
observe the wolves forming
packs, battling over territory
and killing moose, but the
team is shut out of the park.
The seven-week mission
isn’t dead yet, but prospects
fade daily.
The loss of a season’s
worth of data would be “dev-
astating,” said Rolf Peterson
of Michigan Technological
University, the co-leader.
“Continuity is what’s at the
core of a lot of observa-
tional science, especially
long-term projects. At some
point, the loss of continuity
degrades the integrity and
value of the work itself. And
there are things that don’t
come around a second time.”
The timing is particu-
larly bad because the park
recently began a multiyear
effort to replenish its wolf
population, which had fallen
to two. Four were fl own to
Isle Royale from the main-
land last fall — one later
died — and researchers
planned to relocate several
others this winter. Peter-
son’s group also wants to
dart 20 moose and fi t them
with radio collars to gauge
their reaction to the arriving
wolves.
“Both of these projects,
while partially supported by
other funds, require National
Park Service personnel
and facilities to operate,”
agency spokeswoman Alex-
andra Picavet said. “Until
there is an approved fund-
ing source to support those
functions, both operations
are suspended.”
Also at risk are the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service’s
aerial surveys of endan-
gered Mexican gray wolves
in Arizona and New Mexico,
which usually happen in late
January and early February.
A California mission to
gather data on fi sh and study
how climate change is affect-
ing oceans, which began 70
years ago, also is in limbo. A
research ship was reserved
for this winter’s operation,
carried out by a federal, state
and university partnership.
But because it’s owned by
the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administra-
tion, the San Diego-based
vessel is off-limits until the
shutdown ends. No suitable
replacement is available,
said program director Brice
Semmens.
Data gaps from a lost
mission would be harm-
ful because “the ocean is
changing so rapidly now,”
he said. “We need to under-
stand how these changes are
going to affect populations
we care about, like shellfi sh
or Dungeness crab.”
The shutdown also is tak-
ing a toll on the next gen-
eration of environmental
researchers.
Federal scientists teach
and monitor graduate stu-
dents’ projects at universi-
ties nationwide. Now, the
schools may cancel some
courses and students are
worrying about graduating
on time.
Three experts with the
U.S. Geological Survey
teach in the wildlife and
fi sheries program at the Uni-
versity of Georgia, where
a statistical modeling class
was scratched because the
government instructor isn’t
allowed to work, biology
professor John Maerz said.
“We depend on them
being there; we build our
curriculum and projects
around them,” Maerz said.
“You can’t replace that
expertise.”
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Contact Fred 503-440-9481
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651 Help Wanted
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