Taking Action Part 1: Public Land Is Political

If the world seems heavy lately, know that you’re not alone. I hope to provide a little light for an uncertain time.

I’m writing a four-part series about how to cope with right now, regarding public land protection. Beyond coping, I'm here to inform you about the actions and preparations you can take involving the National Park System (NPS), like what to expect when visiting parks this year. You’ll see this intro at the start of each of these four blog posts.

I know I have quite a few readers from Canada (thank you so much), so you can skim the voting stuff for the U.S., but everything else is applicable, so hang tight :-)

At the edge of Sequoia National Park, where nine people were fired in the unlawful mass termination of government employees.

I’m making each post fairly short so that they can be digestible. If you have comments or tips to add, PLEASE do so!

Part 1: Public Land Is Political

Part 2: Practical Tips for Visiting Parks Now

Part 3: Action You Can Take At Home

Part 4: General Ramblings, Concerns, and Hopes

Thanks for reading. Let’s get started!

---

Part 1: Public Land Is Political - How To Involve the Government

If you want to jump straight to how you can take action, click here :-)

A Brief History of the National Park Service and Public Lands

Mirroring the expression that the personal is political, public lands have always been politicized. From the very moment colonizers stole land in murderous ways from native peoples, to territorial expansion placing claim on North American soil.

Fast forward to the 1872 congressional establishment of Yellowstone National Park, and eventually, President Woodrow's establishment of the National Park Service in 1916. After that, debate shook the National Park system in the 1920s into the 1930s, where political officials, namely Washington state's beloved Gifford Pichot, argued against the Park Service's existence at all.

Congress members thought places like Yellowstone would be chapened if other, less "beautiful" lands were called parks (for the record, I wholeheartedly disagree, just relaying the history).

Craters of the Moon National Monument, established May 2, 1924 by President Coolidge

In the 1960s-70s, congress members questioned the legitimacy of certain lands, calling smaller parks less worthy of conservation for their lack of mystique and whether lands in the eastern U.S. even deserved protection. Civil rights and economic class also influenced Congress members' expansion of parks, wanting to bring the parks to the people in urban areas.

Congress passed the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978. Then, in 1981, National Park land expansion came to an abrupt halt under the Reagan administration, paired with his secretary of the Interior James Watt caring about the prestige of monumental parks- while apathetic towards the notion that to keep those parks "crown jewels," conservation efforts were needed.

The history of the National Parks Service is fraught and has continued to evolve in political conversations and throughout executive administrations. Which, my dear friends, leads us to now.

Acadia National Park Shoreline

Our Role In This Conversation

Let’s start with a simple fact: elected officials (are supposed to) work for you. They are representatives who, theoretically, are tasked with listening to the people and then answering requests in the form of action. They work for you. Thus, if you are unsatisfied with what is happening, you should share that with your elected officials. You'll learn how to do it right here! Yay!

Please protect our parks. This is Glacier National Park right after the sun set

Fast Facts As of March 3rd

Let's start with some background on why the heck you'd be contacting officials about public land anyway:

• An estimated 5,000 public lands employees have been fired

• Many probationary workers were fired. According to NPR, “In the federal government, a probationary worker is often a newly hired employee who is put on a 'probationary' period — typically for one or two years — before they may be hired into full-time status.”

• Many probationary workers have been involved with parks for years but are now considered probationary period due to a new role, seasonal position, or even a promotion, regardless of how long they’ve been federal government employees

• Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are the ones conducting these terminations

• As of 2024, National Park Service Funding from the U.S. only accounted for less than 1/15th of the total federal budget 

• In 2023, “visitor spending… resulted in a record high $55.6 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 415,400 jobs” (NPS), an amount far more than the NPS's (previously) allotted budget  

• Even though the process of firing is fast, hiring seasonal workers back will take time, and will most likely not even get filled, according to Bill Wade, the executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers and a retired superintendent of Shenandoah National Park.

• “In 2017, the first Trump administration reduced Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by 50% as part of an effort to open the lands to drilling, mining and other forms of development.” (NC State)

• Some of “the assets” Trump speaks of in his Sovereign Wealth Fund are OUR PUBLIC LANDS. YOUR PUBLIC LANDS. Meant to be sold for profit. We cannot let the question of whether this is his intent stop us from taking action right now. 

Your recreation at these parks is going to be significantly damaged

Here’s another fact:

If you voted for Trump, you are allowed to disagree with what is happening. You are not required to agree with him- or any elected official for that matter, including the not elected Elon Musk.

If you want to protect public lands for the sake of recreation, fishing, hunting, or general land and species protection, conservation, and restoration, you are allowed to disagree with the president and your representatives and make your voice heard. 

I cannot reiterate this enough. Trump began opening public land to drilling in 2017 (see above fast facts), and he will do the same in this presidency- with more aggression and efficiency- if we do not stop him. He has already started with firing people.

How to Take Action

It’s time to take action, which means involving our government! Here are some of the actionable steps YOU can take.

1. Email Your Representatives

Where to start? Check out Sierra Club’s Actions Page!!! You can choose National Actions you can take and actions specific to your state. For example, you can send messages to your state representatives to protect the Stewards of Our Public Lands and National Parks.

My personal favorite from the Sierra Club is a letter to the Senate regarding H.R. 471, called “Fix Our Forests Act,” which is an act that sounds promising but is actually going to do the opposite if passed! As of right now, the House has passed the act, and it has been introduced to the Senate. The Act- in laymen’s terms- allows for (now) protected areas to be shut down, allowing access for forest cuts AND OIL LEASES. The Act claims clear-cutting forests will be better for the environment. Shocker- that’s not what would happen. Don’t take it from me; take it from the long list of science-backed environmental organizations who do not back- and vehemently argue against- the act.

You can tell the Senate to stop this act by visiting the Sierra Club’s site here.

Each “action” you take simply involves putting your name and address. There are writing prompts, but if you don’t know what to say, an outline is already written. 

Take action for the nation and your state. 

2. Call Your Reps

Call Congress! Take a moment to read over 5 Calls (click link) and talk to your reps about issues you are unsatisfied with. You can also contact Congress directly by calling the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. 

3. Snail Mail Style

Want to mail your reps a letter? Hell yeah! Check out more info here, or address your letter to the following

For Correspondence to U.S. Senators:

Office of Senator (Name)

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

For Correspondence to Senate Committees:

(Name of Committee)

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510

---

There you have it! Part 1 of this action plan. Three ways to involve the government. Make your voice heard!

If you would like to hear some testimonials from fired forestry workers, here are a few of the thousands of land stewards, educators, rescue personnel, ticket window operators, maintenance crew members, researchers, and so many more:

• Brian Gibbs, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

• Josh Barnesm, Sequoia National Park, California

• Kaesee Bourne, former biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service

• Alex Wild, Former Permanent Park Ranger with NPS

• Shania, former park employee

• Mikayla, former park employee

• Angela Moxley, Botanist, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia

• Owen Wickenheiser, wilderness and climbing ranger, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (The Enchantments), Washington State

• Gregg Bafundo, former U.S. Marine and Forest Service ranger, Washington State

• The 17 anonymous rangers at Mt. Rainier, Olympia, and North Cascades National Parks, Washington State

---

Sign up for emails or comment if you want updates when parts 2/3/4 are published. Thanks for reading, and stay strong! Also, this is a friendly reminder that there is still joy and hope in this world. Here are some smiling faces to end a heavy blog post!

The world is heavy, but I promise there's still joy. Noah and me on the Rogue River in February, '25