SNRA budget could be cut
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
The Sawtooth National Recreation Area will likely experience a 15 percent
budget cut for the current fiscal year, Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) area
ranger Deb DesLaurier said Thursday morning at a press conference.
The SNRA operates on an October through September fiscal year, but
DesLaurier explained that budgets aren’t usually finalized until late winter.
Though the final numbers aren’t yet in, management speculation
concluded that last year’s $2.2 million budget could be reduced to $1.9 million,
DesLaurier said.
The numbers came from a Forest Service management meeting in Shoshone on
Jan. 26, and a final tally will arrive in early April, DesLaurier said. DesLaurier
stressed that she is only speculating at this point.
"I will be extremely surprised if we match the 1999 numbers,"
DesLaurier said. "Our budgets have gone down drastically over the years, to the point
where the number of permanent full-time employees is roughly half of what it was when the
SNRA was established."
Cuts will probably be made in the timber, recreation, inland fisheries and
range management departments.
"We’re keeping our fingers crossed like you won’t believe
that some projects like the SNRA license plates come through," she said.
