Yeah… it isn’t good. This whole Federal Government Shutdown thing has real impacts or real people. Among those being hurt are Upper Keys guides who make a living off bringing folks into the Everglades to hunt for reds and tarpon. Federal parks are closed due to the shutdown and that includes the Everglades and a host of other places around the country, just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past week and haven’t heard the news.
Turns out you can’t shut down the Federal Government and just keep the parts you like.
I’m hoping we can, collectively, shut down the grandstanding and get back to being a functional democracy again. Here’s to hoping.
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Tags: Everglades
Bjorn, Unfortunately this is all political theater by NPS in Florida. The Wildlife Refuge backcountry islands (administered by Fish and Wildlife within Interior) from East Bahia Honda to the Marquesas are not closed. Why is Florida Bay closed but the Gulf backcountry is not? Why isn’t the Interior Secretary insisting on consistency among bureaus within her agency?
The situation is reversed in Alaska. There NPS is being reasonable (i.e., not closing generally accessible lands) but FWS has ordered “closure” of all the Wildlife Refuge units in Alaska.
Similar closures did not occur during the 1995 and 1996 shutdowns. As I said, this is merely unnecessary political theater.
Bill
Seems to ALL be unnecessary political theater.
My sympathies lie with the everyday person that is being adversly affected and certainly not with the entire government facilitating this debacle. With this said the flat here on Aitutaki are open and holding fish. I’m kind of glad I’m 5ooo miles from the insanity. It’s off to chase fins now.
I was planning on trout fishing in Arkansas this weekend, but the campgrounds are US Army Corp Engineer managed, so they are closed. These campgrounds make money (or at least pay for themselves), much like the National Parks, but they close them, and pay people to enforce the closure. These congressman remind me of shady lawyers that are paid by the hour, so they drag out cases to make more money. If Gov’t shutdown meant Congress didn’t get paid, you can bet your ass they’d be burning the midnight oil to get this worked out in no time.
I think it’s said best here: http://xkcd.com/1274/.
Cheers to that…cooler heads need to prevail. This is getting to be a joke.
Spencer
http://www.featherandfinblog.com