Federal budget crunch to affect state refuges

OLD TOWN – Outdoor enthusiasts visiting wildlife refuges across the state may find the protected lands maintained less due to a federal budget crunch in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Budget limitations have left Maine refuges scrambling for funding, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed consolidating or eliminating staff and resources at many of the Maine refuges as early as Oct. 1.

The federal plan proposes to eliminate the refuge manager and part-time administrative secretary positions at Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Milford, which means the refuge no longer would be staffed.

“The most visible impact [of the cut] will be the maintenance of trails,” Tom Comish, Sunkhaze Meadows refuge manager, said. “But it will also be seen in law enforcement and the inappropriate use of the land.”

In order to support the 545 refuges in the country, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget must increase $16 million annually to offset salary increases and climbing energy costs.

Hoping to remain at least even in the coming budget, service officials must make financial cuts and rearrangements, Tony Leger, northeast regional chief of the National Wildlife Refuge, said Thursday.

The 2005 budget for refuges that fall entirely within Maine borders is $2,825,820. Eliminating the Sunkhaze Meadows’ costs will remove a $127,336 budget line, according to the 2005 statistics.

As part of the federal service’s northeast Region 5, composed of 13 states from Maine to Virginia, the proposal suggests juggling the state’s refuge employees by cutting or relocating staff positions.

The proposal would eliminate 28 jobs in the region and would force another 20 employees to be reassigned.

“The whole country is in very different times, and this is about making choices,” Leger said Thursday. “The budget is flat and costs are going up. The reality in the situation is there’s a lot of priorities in the country that are different from increases in domestic spending.”

Sunkhaze Meadows is the only refuge in the state that will lose all of its staffing, but other refuges will suffer from the budget crunch as well.

The Northern Maine National Wildlife Refuge, which includes the Moosehorn and Aroostook refuges, will hire a law enforcement officer, but will have to cut two maintenance positions and a biologist spot.

The Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge has administered Sunkhaze Meadows since the late 1990s, according to Refuge Manager Charlie Blair, but if the refuge loses its staff, Blair and his employees will have an additional 11,270 acres to manage.

In the proposal, Maine Coastal Islands, headquartered in Milbridge, will gain a biologist, a law enforcement officer, a public use specialist and a part-time maintenance position. Despite the increase in staff, however, Blair admits it will be difficult for him to maintain so much additional land.

“This doesn’t mean that there won’t be work done at Sunkhaze Meadows, but we’re not going to be able to do the same kind of work that Tom [Comish] did,” Blair said Thursday.

Local “friend” groups across the state may be called on to step up their efforts to preserve the refuges.

The Friends of Sunkhaze Meadows has been active for several years, according to Comish, but the burden of additional funding and labor could fall upon the group.

“Friends groups across the country need to start beating the drum and singing the same song to keep jobs to preserve the refuges,” Comish said. “The friend groups will have to take on many more tasks and if something needs attention it may fall to them.”

The proposed job elimination is not the end of staffing cuts, according to Leger.

“It would be irresponsible for me to not take action by not performing and letting refuges to get to the point where they cannot operate,” the regional director chief said. “This plan doesn’t take us to where we need to go; the proposal only cuts one-third of the need, so this is still phase one.”