Oregon nursery on edge as feds withhold money during shutdown

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Sandy Roth is the co-owner of The Plant Works in Cove, Oregon, a nursery near La Grande that helps provide native plants for wildfire recovery and habitat restoration.

A big part of their business relies on federal government contracts with the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife. Right now they have a shipment of trees and plants ready to be picked up.

But that’s not happening because of the federal government shutdown. And that is putting Roth in a real financial bind.

A $50,000 check they’re expecting from the federal government is on hold — and Roth has a line of credit from a bank that needs to be paid back.

“If we don’t get paid, we can’t pay that back. So that’s the issue. And then I’m into the bank for a lot of money. I mean, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but $50,000 to a small business is a lot of money,” Roth told KOIN 6 News on Tuesday. “And I personally have to pay it back at that point or declare bankruptcy. I don’t know what my next steps are. I’ve never faced it before like this.”

She worries contracts could be canceled and whether the Trump Administration will support reforestation projects or focus instead more on logging than on protecting forests.

As the shutdown enters its third week, the Office and Management and Budget said Tuesday it’s preparing to “batten down the hatches” with more reductions in force to come, the Associated Press reports. The president calls budget chief Russ Vought the “grim reaper,” and Vought has seized on the opportunity to fund Trump’s priorities, paying the military while slashing jobs in health, education, the sciences and other areas with actions that have been criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges.

Roth said she hopes the federal government sends the check. But her plant stock is sitting there, and with winter coming she hopes the shutdown doesn’t last much longer.