Topekaha, Kan. – The camps, boat ramps and other facilities in at least 30 locations in federal lakes and reservoirs in six states will be closed or have their hours in mid -May as the Trump Administration Trete shrink quickly The United States government.
Officials of the US Army Engineers. UU., Which supervises the lakes and reservoirs and their comforts for navigation, camping, walking and doing tourism, said they are dealing with the shortage of personnel and other budgetary restrictions.
The spokesman for the body, Douglas Garman, said that concentrating the staff in less recreational sites will allow these sites to maintain the “full range of services” that visitors expect.
The body of the body of the body in Omaha, Nebraska, which supervises the facilities in a large strip of the great plains of the west of Iowa and Nebraska to the Montana border with Canada, said that the changes will also protect the hydroelectric and dam operations.
“The decisions to make operational changes in the recreation areas are not taken lightly, and we understand that these decisions can be harmful to the public’s travel plans,” Garman said in an email to Associated Press.
President Donald Trump He imposed a federal hiring freezing after starting his second term in January, and his Government Efficiency Department He is trying to eliminate tens of thousands of government jobs.
In Pickstown, Dakota del Sur, the residents were “horrified” to know that the body plans to close their visitors center in the Fort Randall dam and suspend the tours of the prey power on May 1, said Cindy Broyhill, president of the City Trustee Board.
“” We have a lot of fishing and navigation, but we also have many simple tourists who come to see the prey, “Broyhill said about Pickstown, located little more than half a mile (0.8 kilometers) east of the dam on the Missouri river, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) north of the state line of Nebraska.
“I think there are other places where they could cut that would make more sense,” he added.
In western Kansas, Sue Graham, manager of Knothead’s Bait Shop and Camping Supply Store on the east side of Lake Wilson, was skeptical of a plan to limit a camp there to daytime use from May 15. The lake is about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Kansas City, home of the Kansas district office, Missouri and southern Nebraska.
Graham does not believe that the movement will save a lot of money because the camp is used only by residents who have nearby boat ramps, but the body officials would “shoot in the foot” if they went beyond due to the income from lost rates, he said, he added that he does not expect his store to be affected.
“People are still going to come out,” Graham said.
The Kansas City district plans to close visiting information centers in two Kansas lakes, including Hillsdale, outside the Kansas City area, and Kanopolis, in the center of Kansas. The body will not allow camping during the night in 25 “primitive” places of non -amenities in two areas in Lake Harlan County in western Nebraska, near the Kansas state line. The nearby sites and water will still be accessible during the day.
Emily Coffin, head of the District’s natural resources section, said the district has continued efficiency initiatives for five or six years that will lead to less visiting personnel interactions. They include self -service camp records, parking without effective and payments through codes scanned with smartphones.
“It can be a little more notable because we have more of that built than maybe two years ago,” he said.
In March, the Baltimore body district closed three camps on Lake Raystown at the Center for Pennsylvania and a camp, swimming beach and ramp for boats in Lake Cowanesque in northern Pennsylvania.
The Omaha district announced earlier this month that it would close six camps in Las Dakotas on May 1, as well as three visitors in Dakota del Sur and Montana. It also plans to suspend or limit the four powers of the South Dakota dam and reduce the routes in Fort Peck Dam in the Northeast of Montana.
The body district for the southeast of the state of Washington announced last week that it closed two visitors and eight camp and recreation areas there.
“By concentrating our resources, we can maintain better essential missions,” said Lieutenant Colonel Katie Werbeck, commander of the district, in a statement.
