[news]
Furlough frustrations Researchers play catch-up after government shutdown by Alex Sakariassen
One of the most complete Tyran- its 55th anniversary. Essential staff were kept biologists have been collecting more denosaurus Rex specimens in existence—a on to ensure the safety of astronauts aboard tailed data on a population estimated at fossil known as Wankel’s Rex—awaited the International Space Station. But the fewer than 50 bears. The 16-day hiatus for FWS also meant federal inspection at Bozeman’s Museum shutdown delayed the launch of dozens of of the Rockies in late September. The fos- new satellites and turned off the lights at shuttering several western Montana wildlife refuges including the National Bison Range. sil had been transferred from a secure NASA’s Asteroid Watch program. storage facility, and paleontologists had The shutdown also came on the eve Lead wildlife biologist Brendan Moynahan meticulously uncrated the specimen in of the latest field season in Antarctica. says the bison range staff had just enough preparation for a trip to Washington, D.C. Newly arrived scientists were told not to time upon returning to complete its annual Then, on Oct. 1, the federal govern- unload equipment. Others were stopped herd roundup—a critical point of the year ment shut down. Representatives from in airports en route. Researchers are now when personnel tag new bison calves, take the Smithsonian Institute’s Natural His- faced with possible weeks-long gaps in genetic samples and cull the population to a manageable size for winter tory Museum, where grazing. Moynahan adds the Wankel’s Rex is destined to work took considerable become the centerpiece of time this year due to the a new dinosaur hall, told shutdown’s impacts on MOR to pack everything scheduled maintenance of up. The trip would have to range infrastructure. During wait until spring. the shutdown, bison broke “Once we realized that through several fences and the government was shut “scattered to the wind” down, the curators and the across federal property. scientists and the [U.S. The shutdown “really Army Corps of Engineers] in put in jeopardy the whole particular—the guys who point of the work we do were really in charge of that through the other 99 perspecimen—decided that if it cent of the year,” Moynadoesn’t ship now, it’s not photo courtesy of Museum of the Rockies going until spring because The government shutdown delayed the transport of a nearly han says, “which is to keep of the chance of a freak complete T. Rex fossil from Bozeman to Washington, D.C. Other animals moving across the range, try to keep the ims n o w s t o r m w h i l e t h i s impacts to Montana researchers were even more serious. pacts from heavy grazing as thing’s on the road,” says MOR spokesman Mark Robinson. “Nobody datasets on ice flows and penguins, and acceptable as possible.” Moynahan is also gravely concerned wanted to take that chance because it is, the National Science Foundation is canthat the shutdown may have cost the scientifically, a very valuable specimen.” celing scores of projects. Wankel’s Rex was scheduled to ship Here in Montana, the shutdown bison range time to gauge the extent of out Oct. 11, a date MOR had slated for a forced the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study epizootic hemorrhagic disease among varspecial send-off event. The Smithsonian Team to call off the final month of its fall ious wildlife populations. EHD, an illness had similarly set aside the fossil’s arrival trapping schedule in Yellowstone National spread by midges, killed hundreds of date of Oct. 16 for a special presentation Park, which began Aug. 28. Biologists whitetail deer around Missoula this fall. on the National Mall to coincide with the planned to collect samples from and And just days before the shutdown, a visfourth annual National Fossil Day. The two apply radio collars to bears in the park itor to the bison range found a dead museums reached a 50-year loan agree- through the end of October. Frank van whitetail deer in Mission Creek. Tests ment for Wankel’s Rex earlier this summer. Manen, the study team’s leader, says the came back positive for EHD. Days into the shutdown, Moynahan Now the T. Rex, which was promptly shutdown delayed the release of a muchpacked up and stashed away again, will anticipated report on grizzly dietary habits received a call from the bison range’s law have to wait until April. in Yellowstone until early December— enforcement officer, one of the few un“We’ll go through the same process in barely in time for the Interagency Grizzly furloughed staffers. The officer reported the spring,” Robinson says, “where we un- Bear Committee’s final meeting of 2013. a bull bison near Mission Creek that was crate it, inspect it, make sure everything’s “I would call it a temporary setback,” having difficulty breathing. Biologists okay, re-crate it and ship it off.” van Manen says of the missed window for were allowed to collect emergency samThe holdup for Wankel’s Rex is just research. “It’s something we can probably ples from the carcass for testing, but Moyone example—and a relatively minor one compensate for in the next field season, nahan hasn’t yet had time to comb the at that—of the widespread impacts of the so it’s not like some other research proj- property for other dead animals. At this government shutdown on the scientific ects … that missed a very critical window point, any carcasses would be too decommunity. Furloughs and darkened web- to get everything ready. For us, it’s mostly graded to yield testable samples for EHD. “That’s beyond frustration,” Moynasites combined to push researchers out of an inconvenience and a setback.” the field and bar online access to federally Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator han says. “That really is tantamount to a compiled data from various agencies. Chris Servheen, with the U.S. Fish and negligence that is a direct result of not NASA in particular made national head- Wildlife Service, notes a similar loss of re- being allowed to do our jobs.” lines as 97 percent of its work force was sent search opportunities in the Cabinet-Yaak home the same day the agency celebrated ecosystem in northwest Montana, where asakariassen@missoulanews.com
missoulanews.com • October 31–November 7, 2013 [9]