By Alessandra Bergamin, Bay Nature
The ongoing federal government shutdown that has locked the public out of national parks and recreation areas across the nation has also shuttered federally funded research and monitoring programs considered “nonessential,” running the risk that months, or even years, of painstaking investigation could be lost in a few weeks.
In the Bay Area, many of the research projects undertaken within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including those done in partnership with the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, have been suspended. It’s a particularly critical time for bird monitoring programs, which hit their peak during the annual fall migration that can see 250 migratory bird species arriving in, or passing through, the region. Allen Fish, the director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory at the conservancy, said the nearly 30-year-long raptor monitoring program based in the recreation area’s Marin Headlands has completely stopped, and the integrity of this year’s study is likely to be compromised.
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