Furloughs for USFS, BLM, if no budget deal

If Congress fails to end a federal budget stalemate by Friday, most of the 600 employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service likely would be furloughed. But that doesn't mean local federal forestlands will become fair game for scofflaws. Both agencies plan to keep skeletal crews in place to maintain basic functions, including law enforcement officers. "We have been tasked by the state office to come up with essential services and that would primarily be law enforcement," said Jim Whittington, spokesman for the BLM's Medford District. "We want to make it clear that law enforcement would be out there patrolling. Our essential functions would still be in place — basically law enforcement — but we would also have people to protect our infrastructure investment." Ditto for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, said forest spokeswoman Virginia Gibbons. "We would cover the essentials, including providing law enforcement to ensure public safety," she said. "If there is a shutdown, we would continue to fill about 10 positions."...more

We can only pray...maybe I don't want Congress to agree on the budget after all.

Anyway, I fail to see how any of them are "essential".