The federal Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, which promotes environmental tourism and access to the Bay, still has no funding from the federal government.
Part of the National Park Service and a partner with Maryland?s Chesapeake Bay Program, the network unites 150 parks, wildlife refuges, museums, ships, historic communities and trails around the Bay.
Its five full-time employees are still working because of residual funding from the National Park Service.
“We?re waiting for resolution so we can keep everybody moving,” network director John Maounis said. “We don?t have the funds to keep the staffing and services at the level we have in the past.”
Congress stopped funding the network when the federal budget year began Oct. 1.
Employees had hoped funding might be restored when the Senate reconvened in November and early December.
In 2005, the network received $2.5 million from Congress, said Bob Campbell, the National Park Service?s Chesapeake Bay coordinator, who helps lead the network. The next year, it received $1.5 million.
Since 1998, the network has provided funding and educational tools for its affiliated sites, which receive 10 million visitors each year, according to the network?s Web site.
The network funded a floating dock for visitors to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, said center Director Mark Haddon.
It also assisted the Annapolis Maritime Museum with $15,000 to revamp the Eastport walking tour and was expected to help implement the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, the nation?s first water trail, following the voyages of Smith.
“We have been really lucky to have funding in the past. We would like to have funding, but we understand it?s tough, with things like the Iraq war,” said Lisa Gutierrez, a partner with the Gateways Network for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
