Government Shutdown Would Close Morton Wildlife Refuge

in Noyac will be closed to the public starting Saturday morning if Congress and President Barack Obama do not reach a deal to avert a federal government shutdown before midnight Friday.

Federal employees based at the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Shirley maintain the 187-acre Morton refuge, but under a shutdown eight of the ten employees will be furloughed, said refuge manager Michelle Williams. The complex is in charge of 10 Long Island refuges, from Lido Beach to Amagansett, but not all the refuges are open to the public.

Williams said only essential personnel for the protection of property and human life would remain working during a shutdown — herself and one refuge officer.

“We do hope to avoid this and we’re waiting additional information," she said. "We’ll be reaching out when contingency plans are arranged.”

Though Morton offices are not staffed in April — they only open for limited hours from June through August — refuge employees keep up the facilities year round, Williams said. Workers clean the bathrooms, empty the garbage cans and check the trails, she said.

With the staff furloughed, she said the gates and facilities would have to be locked up.

Events like hikes and "Piping Plover Day," to learn about one of the refuge's resident bird species, the federally designated threatened piping plover, would be canceled, Williams said.

The National Wildlife Refuge System also maintains a refuge at Conscience Point in North Sea, but it is closed to the public year round anyway.

's is separate and would be unaffected.

There is a third refuge on the South Fork, in Amagansett, but Williams said it was closed to the public on April 1 for the start of the nesting season for piping plovers. The refuge is scheduled to reopen Aug. 31.

Wildlife at the various refuges would not be affected by the shutdown, Williams said.