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Allegheny National Forest and Fish Hatchery has limited staff during government shutdown

By JOSH COTTON jcotton@timesobserver.com The Associated Press is reporting that the partial federal government shutdown is “almost certainly (to) be handed off to a divided government in the new year.” That’s going to – in Warren County – continue to result in limited operations on the Allegheny National Forest and at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery. Contingency plans for both the USDA – of which the Forest Service is a part – and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the hatchery, outline the shutdown procedures as well as who works and who is furloughed. The plan for the Forest Services breaks staff down to three categories that will continue to work and a fourth that will be furloughed. Excepted employees “normally will work some or all of their normal tour of duty during a furlough. This usually includes emergency employees such as law enforcement as well as other employees designated as mission essential. Excepted employees who work during the furlough will eventually be paid when Congresses passes an appropriation bill.” Other employees are categorized as excepted but placed in “on-call status.” Exempt employees are those “not affected by a lapse in appropriations” and “includes employees who are not funded by annually appropriated funds.” Employees “who are neither excepted nor exempt... are barred from working during a shutdown, except to perform minimal activities as necessary to execute an orderly suspension of agency operations related to non-excepted activities. These employees will be furloughed.” The plan outlines that excepted services include those “essential to protect life and property” and include, among other positions, fire suppression and law enforcement. This category also includes “protection of Research studies where lack of continuation measurements or maintenance would destroy or endanger validity of research findings.” Officials estimate that “it will take the agency five days to complete orderly closedown procedures.” On the first day of a shutdown – in this case, December 26 – “all employees will be directed to report to their supervisors to receive assignments of duties or other pertinent information for an orderly closedown.” The contingency plan includes an addendum that addresses several specific areas, including recreation, timber sales and permits. Law enforcement “will be excepted and will perform most of the asset protection and public safety work” for recreation sites, the plan states. “Minimal recreation staffing may be expected if needed for those objectives.” There’s a little more latitude for timber harvest operations. “Each Forest Service Supervisor’s Office will assess the timber sale contracts... that are active and their relative complexity and environmental sensitivity,” the plan states. “Determinations about whether to suspend operations will be made on a case-by-case basis.” However, the plan also states that “all timber sale contracts, stewardship contracts, Stewardship Agreements and service contracts that are directly connected to timber harvesting may continue. Employees working on this work would be considered exempt.... New timber sales would not be awarded and the associated bid opening processes prior to a contract award would not be authorized during the shutdown.” Additionally, the plan identifies “permits for firewood and special forest products” as the “two most common forest product permits” and dictates that “sale of these permits would be suspended with a furlough. Permits already sold to the public will be in effect.” For the Hatchery, the plan states that it would take a half day to “shut down most operations” and noted that the Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits the government from “obligating funds before an appropriations measure has been enacted and from accepting ‘voluntary services.’” The plan stipulates that staff will be considered essential who “perform activities for the protection of life and property.... Included in this area are animal caretakers, who must feed and care for live animals.... “Each hatchery will have at least one person on site, with up to two persons on call to protect the physical facility and maintain the fish at the hatchery.... During a short-term shut down, fish on site would be maintained, further determinations will need to be made as time passes in the event of a longer-term shut down.” The Associated Press reported that the shutdown is “forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors to stay home or work without pay, and many are experiencing mounting stress from the impasse. It also is beginning to pinch citizens who count on public services. Gates are closed at some national parks, the government won’t issue new federal flood insurance policies, new farm loans will be put on hold beginning next week, and in New York, the chief judge of Manhattan federal courts suspended work on civil cases involving U.S. government lawyers, including several civil lawsuits in which Trump himself is a defendant.” The AP also said that the Smithsonian Institution has announced that museum and gallery doors will start to close midweek if the shutdown persists.

The Associated Press is reporting that the partial federal government shutdown is “almost certainly (to) be handed off to a divided government in the new year.”

That’s going to – in Warren County – continue to result in limited operations on the Allegheny National Forest and at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery.

Contingency plans for both the USDA – of which the Forest Service is a part – and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the hatchery, outline the shutdown procedures as well as who works and who is furloughed.

The plan for the Forest Services breaks staff down to three categories that will continue to work and a fourth that will be furloughed.

Excepted employees “normally will work some or all of their normal tour of duty during a furlough. This usually includes emergency employees such as law enforcement as well as other employees designated as mission essential. Excepted employees who work during the furlough will eventually be paid when Congresses passes an appropriation bill.” Other employees are categorized as excepted but placed in “on-call status.”

Exempt employees are those “not affected by a lapse in appropriations” and “includes employees who are not funded by annually appropriated funds.”

Employees “who are neither excepted nor exempt… are barred from working during a shutdown, except to perform minimal activities as necessary to execute an orderly suspension of agency operations related to non-excepted activities. These employees will be furloughed.”

The plan outlines that excepted services include those “essential to protect life and property” and include, among other positions, fire suppression and law enforcement.

This category also includes “protection of Research studies where lack of continuation measurements or maintenance would destroy or endanger validity of research findings.”

Officials estimate that “it will take the agency five days to complete orderly closedown procedures.”

On the first day of a shutdown – in this case, December 26 – “all employees will be directed to report to their supervisors to receive assignments of duties or other pertinent information for an orderly closedown.”

The contingency plan includes an addendum that addresses several specific areas, including recreation, timber sales and permits.

Law enforcement “will be excepted and will perform most of the asset protection and public safety work” for recreation sites, the plan states. “Minimal recreation staffing may be expected if needed for those objectives.”

There’s a little more latitude for timber harvest operations.

“Each Forest Service Supervisor’s Office will assess the timber sale contracts… that are active and their relative complexity and environmental sensitivity,” the plan states. “Determinations about whether to suspend operations will be made on a case-by-case basis.”

However, the plan also states that “all timber sale contracts, stewardship contracts, Stewardship Agreements and service contracts that are directly connected to timber harvesting may continue. Employees working on this work would be considered exempt…. New timber sales would not be awarded and the associated bid opening processes prior to a contract award would not be authorized during the shutdown.”

Additionally, the plan identifies “permits for firewood and special forest products” as the “two most common forest product permits” and dictates that “sale of these permits would be suspended with a furlough. Permits already sold to the public will be in effect.”

For the Hatchery, the plan states that it would take a half day to “shut down most operations” and noted that the Anti-Deficiency Act prohibits the government from “obligating funds before an appropriations measure has been enacted and from accepting ‘voluntary services.'”

The plan stipulates that staff will be considered essential who “perform activities for the protection of life and property…. Included in this area are animal caretakers, who must feed and care for live animals….

“Each hatchery will have at least one person on site, with up to two persons on call to protect the physical facility and maintain the fish at the hatchery…. During a short-term shut down, fish on site would be maintained, further determinations will need to be made as time passes in the event of a longer-term shut down.”

The Associated Press reported that the shutdown is “forcing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors to stay home or work without pay, and many are experiencing mounting stress from the impasse. It also is beginning to pinch citizens who count on public services. Gates are closed at some national parks, the government won’t issue new federal flood insurance policies, new farm loans will be put on hold beginning next week, and in New York, the chief judge of Manhattan federal courts suspended work on civil cases involving U.S. government lawyers, including several civil lawsuits in which Trump himself is a defendant.”

The AP also said that the Smithsonian Institution has announced that museum and gallery doors will start to close midweek if the shutdown persists.

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