WASHINGTON The government may be reopening, but the consequences of the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history are likely to linger for national parks, forests, the federal workforce and cutting-edge scientific research. Some may even be permanent.
Many fire crews missed their window for controlled burns to prevent wildfires. Irreplaceable relics may have been damaged in unguarded national parks. Science experiments were abandoned. And a generation of talent may now think twice about signing up for government, while workers returning to a month of unopened emails and missed meetings will have to decide which of their priorities to sacrifice this year.
And theres the threat it could happen all over again. Congressional negotiators start work this week to find a permanent budget solution due by Feb. 15. President Donald Trumps acting chief of staff on Sunday didnt rule out another shutdown.
The lapse in funding has prevented progress on projects that would normally occur at this time of year, affecting partners, tribes, local communities and businesses, John Haynes, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said in a statement. Qualification training in fields such as firefighting and law enforcement has been delayed. Certain fuels treatments to improve forest conditions have been delayed or canceled. Work that could only be done during winter months may not be completed.
Public Lands
Ecologists and conservationists are bracing for lasting damage on the nations public lands and wild places herons poached from Floridas Everglades, felled desert succulents that would take decades to regrow, defaced relics from rocky outcroppings in the West.
These are natural ecosystems, said Jonathan Asher, a government relations manager with the Wilderness Society. We cant just go out there and make it better.
Images of damage have already become iconic symbols of the shutdowns toll on nature. From Californias Joshua Tree National Park, an image of the eponymous plant slashed down to make room for off-road vehicles went viral on Twitter.
But Collin OMara, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said hes heard reports of wider-ranging damage that hasnt yet been documented. That includes harm to fossils and ancient rock carvings in Utah and Colorado, injuries to sea turtles and manatees by motorized boats in the Everglades, and sage brush trampled by vehicles.
Weve also heard some poaching issues in the Everglades, where folks are going in and taking birds, OMara said. Its a million little things.
The impacts may be concentrated in the U.S. West harsh, isolated landscapes with rugged features that betray their fragility. Even a footfall can crush living cryptobiotic crust in western parks and public lands, much less the off-road vehicles reported driving across them.
Damage that will have to be addressed stems not just from people deliberately driving or treading into forbidden areas, Asher said, but also unintentional harm, like when well-meaning volunteers slipped bleach into composting toilets.
The physical damage isnt limited to land. The shutdown is delaying updates to government rules dictating catch and size limits for salmon and other marine species that will in some cases force fishermen to limit what they collect under outdated, unduly stringent restrictions. In other cases, too many fish may be plucked from the sea this season.
For instance, salmon fishermen worked under tight restrictions in 2018 that wont be eased this year if federal officials cant finalize an updated rule in time, curtailing potential harvests, said Miriam Goldstein, a marine biologist who directs ocean policy at the Center for American Progress.
Workforce
A widely cited concern about the lasting effects of the shutdown, but one thats hard to quantify, is what it will mean for the governments ability to keep the workers it already has and attract talented workers in the future.
In the months after the 2013 shutdown, which lasted 16 days, the number of federal employees taking early retirement increased, according to data published by the Office of Personnel Management.
Roy Wright, who ran insurance and mitigation at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency until 2018, recalled counseling his employees after the 2013 shutdown that it was worth staying put. Theyre not going to do it again, he recounted telling his staff at the time. Everyone knows that shutdowns always end poorly.
