Glacier National Park officials say automatic spending cuts required by Congress will result in a variety of reductions in park operations, but Going-to-the-Sun Road snow plowing efforts will not be affected.

Sequestration required the park to reduce its base budget of about $13.5 million by five percent, or $682,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 20.

The park’s response was to reduce travel, overtime, vehicle leases and supply and equipment purchases.

Travel and training restrictions have been imposed, with employees being allowed to attend only local meetings or training sessions. Other actions include a delay in filling vacant permanent positions and a reduction in the length of seasonal employee schedules.

The park employs about 135 year-round employees and about 350 summer employees.

“We took a thoughtful and analytical approach to implementing program reductions as outlined by Congress, while taking into account the number of visitors served, number of visitors impacted, revenue loss versus savings gained, economic impacts to the surround communities and businesses, resource stewardship and critical life, health and safety concerns for employees and visitors,” said Kym Hall, the park’s acting superintendent.

Park officials had considered a delay in the spring opening of Sun Road, but an offer of $10,000 from the Glacier National Park Conservancy and some salary savings from unexpected personnel changes allow for seasonal positions and overtime needed for an unimpeded plowing effort.

Plowing in Glacier began this week; snow-clearing efforts on Sun Road are scheduled to begin the second week of April.

The park summarized expected impacts from a reduced seasonal staff, including:

Delayed trail access and decreased trail maintenance; a reduction in native plant restoration; reduced shoulder-season access to campgrounds and visitor centers; a decrease in entrance station hours; less maintenance work on park roads, facilities and utility systems; limited and delayed emergency response outside the core visitor season; decreased educational programming and ranger-led activities; less backcountry volunteer coordination; a reduction in revenue from impacted campgrounds; and reduced financial aid from non-profit partners that are impacted by restrictions, such as fewer book sales from park stores.