Outdoor Recreation Interrupted By Budget Crisis Layoffs Ordered At National Parks And Wildlife Refuges Throughout The Country.

While House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton trade insults in Washington, D.C., the national budget battle is raising havoc with some hunters, anglers and other recreationists.

All Lake Roosevelt boat launches maintained by the National Park Service are scheduled to be barricaded by 3 p.m. today.

The Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge east of Colville has been closed, even though it will be a popular destination for hunters heading out for the last weekend of the deer season.

Waterfowl hunting blinds established on the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and the Columbia Refuge near Othello, Wash., are closed. Tough luck for the hunters who have drawn permits for use of the blinds this weekend.

Bruce Edmonston, Coulee Dam National Recreation Area district ranger in Kettle Falls, said the Department of Interior has ordered layoffs of virtually everyone at national parks and wildlife refuges throughout the country. Even concessions would be closed, he said.

“We’ve been told to go into a full shutdown of all visitor facilities,” said Edmonston. “At Grand Canyon and Yosemite, they’re ushering people out and closing the gates behind them.”

Access to popular Park Service recreation areas at Lake Roosevelt already had been closed by Thursday, including launches and picnic areas at Hawk Creek and Porcupine Bay.

Closures of areas with moorage, such as Seven Bays and Kettle Falls Marina, were delayed until 3 p.m. today to give people a chance to get their boats out before the barricades are put up, said Brenda Harding, manager of Seven Bays Resort.

“I’ll be able to come in and maintain the docks and answer the phone, but I won’t be allowed to open the doors to the public to sell gas, worms, pop or anything,” Harding said.

This time of year, only about a dozen or so anglers are likely to show up on a weekend to launch boats at Seven Bays, she said. But the numbers start to add up when considering the numerous facilities along the 150-mile reservoir.

However, anglers still can gain access to the lake at some points on tribal lands, such as at Two Rivers Resort and at Inchelium.

“We know we can’t totally block access and we have no intention of cruising the lake and kicking people off,” says Gerald Teys, Coulee Dam Recreation Area supervisor. “But we have orders to shut down our facilities.”

Lisa Langelier, manager of Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge, noted last week that she had no way to block all the roads into the refuge, but the roads would be posted as closed.

“We’ll keep at least one enforcement person on duty,” she said.

Once the impasse on the federal budget is resolved, the boat ramps should be open the next day, Edmonston said.

The U.S. Forest Service has been able to delay a shutdown by tapping funds left over from the last fiscal year, said Kerry Arneson, spokeswoman for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests in Coeur d’Alene.

“We’re going on a day-by-day basis, but we’re told we can stay open for anywhere from one to three weeks,” she said.

The Forest Service would not attempt to close the forests if a shutdown occurs, she said. But some campground and visitor facilities would be affected.

, DataTimes