And, oh yeah, back to the NPS budget:

From: "NTEU Chapter 296 WASO, NPS"
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2013 15:43:04 -0500
Subject: NTEU update on impact of Sequestration on NPS

Dear fellow WASO Bargaining unit members -

Earlier this afternoon, NPS Director Jarvis spoke to NPS Superintendents and program managers regarding the impact of the government-wide budget Sequestration that goes into effect today. This is a summary of his salient points:
no permanent NPS employees will be furloughed, except in very limited circumstances*
there are @ 1,300 vacant positions - almost all of these will not be filled, unless they are mission critical jobs
regarding seasonal employee hiring - @ 1,000 seasonal employees will not be hired (out of @ 5-6,000 total)
employees subject to furlough - many may be asked to report to duty later than normal
The Director remarked that the NPS was particularly fortunate in regards to being able to avoid furloughs, whereas we are aware of other Bureaus within the Government, and within DOI, which may be forced to furlough staff. He asked that we comport ourselves with compassion and not to act smugly towards these other agencies.

Travel restrictions - Director Jarvis mentioned that he has ordered all travel planned to take place in the month of March cancelled, including his own and that of other 'front office' staff. The only exceptions will be for mission criticaltravel pertaining to health, safety & life-threatening situations.

On Monday, there will be a page on InsideNPS of Q&A posted regarding the impact of the Sequestration on parks, programs and offices. The Director will also be sending out a note on Monday to ALL Employees following up on this call today.

Continuing Resolution - the current C/R runs out on March 27th. When I met with Congressional staff (Ken Cummings - Congressman Van Hollen's senior legislative assistant) this Wednesday, as part of the NTEU Legislative Conference, we learned that Congress is working on a new C/R, but there are no guarantees that a new C/R will be approved, or at what funding level.

The NPS Sequestration plans are contingent upon certain assumptions about what the full year funding will be. Director Jarvis said that the NPS will be asking DOI for blanket approval for seasonal hirings at @ 95% level. If the assumptions turn out to be incorrect, there may have to be changes to the Sequestration plans.

Director Jarvis expressed concerns about the Service's capacity for Search and Rescue, wildland fire management, exotic plant and animal control, and long-term inventory and monitoring. He expressed frustration with "not having the resources to do our jobs." He also mentioned that the Sequester law has provided limited authority to move funding around.

*Union-agency bargaining - Nonetheless, NTEU has invoked its right to bargain with NPS on the impact of sequestration. There may be some small programs or offices where the line-by-line application of the Sequestration law does require staff furloughs.

Next week we will send out a note inviting staff to express any concerns or questions while protecting their anonymity. Employees are encouraged to consider if/how these restrictions affect their annual performance plans.

regards
Rudy

None of the views expressed here in any way represent those of the unidentified agency that I work for or, often, reality. It's just me, fired up by coffee and powerful prose.