Guests at this week’s meetings, and public commenters, have questioned the adequacy of those staffing levels. In public comments shared with the Missoulian, Ralph Webber, a former project leader at Oregon’s Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, wrote “the reality is these staff positions...are so inadequate and unrealistic that a serious attempt of achieving goals is far more limiting then (sic) implied.”

Skip Palmer, a retired Service employee who spent 16 years at the Bison Range, also raised concerns about staffing levels. “The number that they have there now is not enough to take care of any of the alternatives,” he said at Tuesday’s Missoula meeting. “Without the Fish and Wildlife Service and the regional office going to make sure that the staffing is available... we’re wasting our time.”

“The refuge system has changed from the way it used to be, whether we like it or not,” said Kevin Shinn on Tuesday. Shinn is currently acting project leader at Lost Trail National Wildlife Refuge in Marion, and a member of the planning team.

He said that earlier days of higher staffing were “a great time to be in the Fish and Wildlife Service, and we, from what I'm hearing from above, we will not probably ever get to that again.”