BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- American Indian tribes have more than access to National Parks on the line with the government shutdown, as federal funding has been cut off for crucial services including foster care payments, nutrition programs and financial assistance for the needy.
• Some tribes say they'll try to fill the gap themselves, risking deficits to cushion communities with chronic high unemployment and poverty against effects of the budget battle in Washington, D.C.
• But basic services heavily subsidized by federal payments are taking a direct hit. Crow Chairman Darrin Old Coyote says the southeastern Montana reservation is suspending bus service to remote communities and furloughing employees from a major irrigation project.
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs says essential activities such as law enforcement, firefighting and some social services will continue.
• THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
• Indian tribes across the U.S. prepared to suspend some federal programs and pay for others out of pocket amid a government shutdown expected to have magnified effects on the many reservations that depend heavily on outside assistance.
• Some activities considered essential will continue, including law enforcement, firefighting, schools and some social services, Bureau of Indian Affairs spokeswoman Nedra Darling said. But other programs are sure to take a hit, such as financial assistance for the needy, payments for foster care and oversight of environmental, wildlife and cultural programs.
• The full scope of the shutdown's effects on tribes remains uncertain; tribal leaders say the severity will depend on how long it lasts. The BIA provides services to more than 1.7 million American Indians and Alaska Natives from more than 500 recognized tribes.
• "Do we just throw kids onto the street or do we help them? Most likely we're going to help those families and do whatever we can until this is unresolved," said Tracy "Ching" King, president of northern Montana's Fort Belknap Reservation.
• King says the reservation's Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes will pay for af

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