JUDY WOODRUFF: Twenty-five
days and counting into the
federal government shutdown, the
impact is being
felt far and wide.
In Florida, John Yang found
the ripple effects reaching the
swamps of the Everglades, the
tourist-packed airports and
even future weather forecasts.
GARL HARROLD, Nature Guide,
Garl's Coastal Kayaking: You
guys are OK to get a little
wet?
JOHN YANG: For 17 years, nature
guide Garl Harrold has been
making a living leading tours
through Everglades
National Park.
GARL HARROLD: If you look
on the trees, you can
actually see the waterline.
And, pretty soon, it will
be completely dried up.
JOHN YANG: Taking people
from around the world,
like this couple from
Germany, slogging through
cypress swamps for up-close
encounters with alligators,
snakes, and an array of other
wildlife.
GARL HARROLD: We got
red-shouldered hawks up here.
There's actually a nest
up around the corner.
JOHN YANG: But the government
shutdown is taking a big
bite out of his business.
GARL HARROLD: It's
really slowing down.
JOHN YANG: How slow?
GARL HARROLD: Pretty slow.
Our numbers are down, and
we're getting cancellations
from especially in Europe
and abroad, because
they don't want to come here.
JOHN YANG: While the gates are
open, there's no one to collect
entry fees, and some apparently
believe the park is closed.
As a result, business is drying
up for Harrold and other guides.
How squeezed are you
right now financially?
GARL HARROLD: Pretty tight.
Very tight.
Actually, I have gone through
most of my savings to just make
my mortgage and the car payments
and insurance.
JOHN YANG: It would likely be
even worse if it weren't for
people like Peter Campbell.
He does the daily chores
that National Park
Service workers did before
the shutdown, staffing
the main visitor center's
information desk, taking out the
trash, even cleaning the men's
room.
PETER CAMPBELL, Florida
National Parks Association:
Being a former school
principal, it's not
unusual to have to
clean restrooms.
JOHN YANG: Campbell's
work is being funded by
the nonprofit Florida
National Parks Association.
Jim Sutton runs the group.
He says it's literally
paying to keep the lights on.
So, you're paying
for the electricity.
JIM SUTTON, Florida National
Parks Association: Yes.
JOHN YANG: Who's paying
for the toilet paper?
JIM SUTTON: I am.
JOHN YANG: Who's
paying for the soap?
JIM SUTTON: I am.
JOHN YANG: Some of the money
comes from the park's gift
shops, where business has also
dropped during the shutdown.
Spending more to maintain
the park now could mean tough
decisions in the future.
But Sutton doesn't
see any other choice.
JIM SUTTON: My logic is, it's
much easier to maintain it
now than it is to catch up
later, whenever the
government does reopen.
JOHN YANG: This couldn't come at
a worse time for the Everglades
and the businesses around
it that rely on tourists.
This is when they
make their money.
And once it's lost,
it's lost forever.
For Garl Harrold, it's the
second bad season in a row.
Last winter, the park
was recovering from
Category 5 Hurricane Irma.
Of what you make in a year, how
much do you make in this period?
GARL HARROLD: Most of it.
JOHN YANG: So if you
lose business now?
GARL HARROLD: Then it's
hard to catch back up.
And we're already
suffering from Irma.
JOHN YANG: How worried are you?
GARL HARROLD: Pretty worried.
JOHN YANG: Worry is something
Cassandra Blackmon knows well.
She's a TSA officer at the
Fort Lauderdale Airport, a
single mom who's not getting a
paycheck.
CASSANDRA BLACKMON,
Transportation Security
Administration: I have
a 15-year-old and a
10-year-old.
And it's hard to explain to
them that I'm not getting a
paycheck, because they see you
go to work.
JOHN YANG: Nationwide, 51,000
TSA agents are on the job
without pay during the shutdown.
Miami International Airport is
one of several where officers
are calling out sick, so many
that, this past weekend,
one concourse closed early.
Blackmon says morale is
so low that some of her
TSA colleagues may quit.
If President Trump or members
of Congress were here,
what would you say to them?
(LAUGHTER)
CASSANDRA BLACKMON:
What do I say to them?
You know, I don't even
think I can say that on TV.
It's disgusting.
It's very immature.
It's like, I'm not getting what
I want, so I'm going to whine
about it and make the poor
people suffer more.
JOHN YANG: Eric Blake's family
is down to one paycheck,
his wife, Suzana (ph).
He's a meteorologist at the
National Hurricane Center in
Miami, working without pay.
If he misses another
paycheck, their financial
forecast is bleak.
ERIC BLAKE, National Hurricane
Center: Right now, I'm staring
at a host of Christmas bills,
not really knowing how
I'm going to pay them.
I have paid the minimum
on all my credit cards.
I have cut all of
the nonessential --
nonessential purchases.
JOHN YANG: Blake's work
is considered essential,
but nearly 200 scientists
who would be preparing
for the next hurricane
season are furloughed.
ERIC BLAKE: Every year,
we really focus our
efforts on making better
hurricane forecasts,
intensity and track.
We really pride ourselves on it.
And right now, we're
just unable to do it.
We have a list of dozens of
things we're trying to do.
Right now, we're not going
to doing any of them.
JOHN YANG: And the center has
had to cancel the first of three
training classes for emergency
managers from
hurricane-prone areas.
The other two are in doubt.
Is it too much of a stretch
to say that not working on the
models now could cost lives
in the coming hurricane season?
ERIC BLAKE: It's not really
that much of a stretch.
If I were moving to
Florida, and I would want
my emergency manager to
have the best possible
information to make
their decision.
And without the training and
outreach that the Hurricane
Center does with FEMA, it just
isn't possible.
JOHN YANG: While Blake
worries about the
hurricane season ahead,
Cassandra Blackmon, the TSA
officer, is just trying
to weather the shutdown.
CASSANDRA BLACKMON:
It's ridiculous.
It's not fair to the
middle class and the
poor people, because a
lot of federal employees
are middle class.
You don't qualify for anything.
You make too much or
you don't make enough.
So we're stuck in the middle.
And to not receive a paycheck is
like -- it's really devastating.
JOHN YANG: And nature guide
Garl Harrold is slogging
through, one step at a time.
GARL HARROLD: Just keep in mind,
if it wasn't for the volunteers
that are keeping the bathrooms
clean and doing the stuff
they're doing, we wouldn't
have been able to do this.
JOHN YANG: As he and others
search for ways to survive
the government shutdown.
For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm John Yang in
Everglades National Park.