Thousands of protesters descended on U.S. national parks over the weekend, from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon and beyond, calling for the government to stop the sweeping federal cuts to public lands and protect the areas where millions of Americans work and play.
President Donald Trump’s administration has, so far, slashed about 1,000 National Park Service jobs and fired an additional 2,000 recently hired employees within the U.S. Forest Service — cuts that many say will put the future of these lands in jeopardy, as well as lead to unsafe hiking and camping for visitors, unmaintained washroom facilities and long service lines.
Protesters hold signs at Roosevelt Arch, the northern entrance to Yellowstone Park on March 1, 2025, in Gardiner, Mont. About 200 people showed up at the rally to protest recent firings of National Park Service and National Forest Service staff. Similar protests were held at many other national parks throughout the United States.
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People demonstrate during a protest against federal employee layoffs at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on March 1, 2025.
Laure Andrillon / AFP via Getty Images
“We need to stop the nonsense,” John Goodwin, a now-retired longtime park service employee, told NBC Bay Area while protesting at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco. “We need to hire back the people who were fired, not only at national parks but every federal employee who has lost their job in the last six weeks.”
According to the New York Times, a group called Resistance Rangers, consisting of approximately 700 off-duty rangers, attempted to organize Saturday protests at the country’s 433 national parks. At least 145 of those sites saw protests, Nick Graver, a student involved in the organizing efforts, told the outlet.
Graver said the Resistance Rangers are concerned not only about the job cuts, but also possible threats to national monuments and resource extraction on public lands.
The Resistance Rangers, consisting of more than 650 National Parks Service Workers, called for protests at all 433 national parks this weekend. At Yosemite, signs in front of the park’s webcams. “Stand up 4 public land + the people who protect it.”@NY4P @NYCParks pic.twitter.com/rg9UojUlmk
— The Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition (@SaraRPCC) March 2, 2025
The firings, which weren’t publicly announced but were confirmed by Democratic senators and House members, come amid what has been a chaotic rollout of an aggressive program to eliminate thousands of federal jobs. The plan is led by billionaire Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump administration effort to slash federal spending.
“Fewer staff means shorter visitor centre hours, delayed openings and closed campgrounds,″ Kristen Brengel, senior vice-president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, told the Associated Press in February.
Trash will pile up, restrooms won’t be cleaned and maintenance problems will grow, she predicted. Guided tours will be cut back or cancelled and, in the worst cases, public safety could be at risk.
People demonstrate during a protest against federal employee layoffs at Yosemite National Park, Calif., on March 1, 2025.
Laure Andrillon / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration’s actions “are pushing an already overwhelmed Park Service to its breaking point,” Brengel said. “And the consequences will be felt in our parks for years.”
Following initial backlash over the cuts, The Associated Press had reported that the administration would restore at least 50 jobs and hire nearly 3,000 additional seasonal workers.
Aubry Andreas, a visual information specialist who helped plan the protest at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, told Boise State Public Radio that she was fired in mid-February as she was beginning to prepare for the upcoming tourist season.
She said she was in charge of designing maps, guides, campground permits and other print information for visitors — a crucial part of the tourist experience, as the park lacks cell service in many areas.
More than 100 turned out for the Protect the Parks protest at the Anthony C. Beilenson Interagency Visitor Center at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, Calif., on March 1, 2025.
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Protesters hold signs at Roosevelt Arch, the northern entrance to Yellowstone Park on March 1, 2025.
Natalie Behring / Getty Images
“For example, the park map — I was in the middle of getting those ordered for the year, and so we’re not going to have maps for people,” she continued, adding that many others who lost their jobs were in visitor-facing roles.
David Uberuaga, who spent much of his career in the National Park Service before retiring eight years ago, including as superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, told the New York Times that people concerned by the firings should be protesting and calling their representatives and senators.
“We can’t continue to just let things happen,” he told the outlet. “We have to really push back very hard, and that is effective over time. And we just can’t get disillusioned.”
Last week, a Trump administration memo directed federal agencies to prepare for mass layoffs, noting that Trump has required “large-scale reductions in force.” A day later, a federal judge ordered the memo be rescinded, reports NBC, ruling that the memo was legally invalid.
Cris Graves, right, organized the Protect the Parks protest that attracted over 100 to the Anthony C. Beilenson Interagency Visitor Center at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, Calif., on March 1, 2025.
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Last week, a group of unhappy employees unfurled an upside-down American flag at the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park as an act of resistance and protest.
An upside-down American flag hangs at El Capitan in Yosemite National Park during the annual firefall on Feb. 22, 2025.
Brittany Colt / http://www.brittanycolt.com
Traditionally, hanging the American flag upside-down symbolizes a distress call and, according to the American Legion’s Flag Code, is intended to be a signal of “dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
“We’re bringing attention to what’s happening to the parks, which are every American’s properties. It’s super important we take care of them, and we’re losing people here, and it’s not sustainable if we want to keep the parks open,” Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic at Yosemite, who supplied the flag and helped hang it, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
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