Goverment Shutdown

[MikeT]

The NPS Isle Royale Site:
"Because of the federal government shutdown, all national parks are closed and National Park Service webpages are not operating."

I feel sorry for John H as he had to cancel his trip.
We were thinking about doing the same trip as he as we had to cancel our trip do to a job prospect. That prospect is now in limbo due to the shutdown.

This is minor compared to the hardships this is causing to so many people. I have friends who are now sitting at home because of this.

A-holes! Just my opinion. Please vote!!!!

Thinking further, it might be a good time to paddle to the island and stay for awhile. I don't think they can put a fence around the whole thing.

Just had to vent...

[philranger]

So what happens to all the folks who are currently in the backcountry? Did the Rangers go through at 11:45 p.m. and tell them they had 15 minutes to pack up?

[Trmills85]

Philranger- That was my question. What's to stop the Queen IV and Voyager from dropping people off and collecting the $4/day as well as self registering their permits as if it's early May.

Is there actual more expense from a day closed down to a day open on an island.

[hooky]

The isle royale facebook page posted about the shutdown and asked for opinions. One commenter stated that his son worked onthe island and that there was a single hiker they were trying to track down. Who knows if it's true, but that's what was posted.

[Capt Don]

I am planning to take the VII out Wednesday and head for Rock Harbor, overnight there and pick all of our passengers up at our south side stops. This was scheduled to be our last trip anyway. In earlier conversations with the chief ranger, he made it crystal clear that we were not authorized to bring any passengers to the island, as we had two that were going on an overnight. I was forced to cancel their trip. I would discourage anyone from trying to go to the park, the law enforcement rangers are making patrols and working without pay. But will be paid for their time when the USA opens for business again, (strange arangement), and will be ticketing any boaters that enter the park waters, which extend 4.5 miles from shore. It is really ashame to end the season in this way, hopefully the senate and congress will realize the real hardships their stubborness is causing for millions of Americans.

[fonixmunkee]

I spoke with John H last night... He's hoping this message gets cleared up shortly so he can salvage his trip, otherwise he may make his way to Duluth to do some of the Superior Hiking Trail.

Also, the news is reporting that the NPS has 48 hours from midnight, 1 Oct, to clear out park patrons.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4

[LeftOvers]

I suspect there must be some rangers on limited duty since this is a port of entry to the U.S. (I was told that's why some of the rangers carry guns).

According to an Oct. 1 story in The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton) 2 employees on the island and one in Houghton are exempt from the shutdown. They still have to figure out how to close up if this goes on - water has to be drained from pipes in Windigo & Rock Harbor, just to name one thing.

What chaos! They all have my sympathy.

[Trmills85]

"We think we're going to get the reimbursements, but we don't know for sure," he said.

Because Isle Royale National Park is closed, Reed said it's unlikely Tech's ongoing wolf/moose study will continue.

Reed said Tech has about 800 active grants at anytime with a value of $9 to $10 million per year, which could be affected by the shutdown."

http://www.mininggazette.com/page/conte ... tdown.html


By these statements it seems to be the wolf/moose study is in jeopardy. In the last 12 months I've read every report they've posted online. I look forward to the future studies. Does anyone have any information about the possibility of it being stopped?

[DonNewcomb]

By these statements it seems to be the wolf/moose study is in jeopardy. In the last 12 months I've read every report they've posted online. I look forward to the future studies. Does anyone have any information about the possibility of it being stopped?

OK, I'm going to play the contrarian here. I understand that everyone on this forum is supposed to get all misty when someone says "Wolf-Moose Study." The Wolf-Moose Study has been going on for over fifty years. As I understand it, the primary conclusions so far are that they need more time and money to continue the study. If they haven't concluded anything important in fifty years, they aren't about to in the next month (or six months). So, if they continue what they've been doing there will be no results for the money and time spent. I'm all for trying an experiment, like introducing caribou to the the island. Watch and see what happens. Right now it's a big laboratory and the scientists are just watching the mold grow in the petri dishes.

[zims]

I have to agree with you Don

[smokey brown]

I will disagree with both of you. As a very short example read the following:

McLaren and Peterson. 1994. Science 266:1555-1558
Peterson. 1999. Ecol. Appl. 9:10-16
Peterson and Page. 1998. J. Mammalogy 69: 89-99
Wayne. 1991. Conserv. Biol. 5: 41-51

and I doubt if you will conclude all they discovered is they need more time and money.

Regardless of anyone's opinion as to the value of these types of studies, the shut down can have more impact than just the loss of a few months. I have a graduate student (study is in another National Park) who will be set back an entire year if this continues much longer as some data can only be collected during this time period.