National Park Service
“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….” – Gavin Carpenter, a disabled vet who supplied the massive flag that hung upside down in Yosemite.
In late February, the actions of a small group of US National Park Service employees captured the sentiment and support of millions of Americans when they hung a giant American flag upside down – a historic sign of distress – on the rocky face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The inverted flag also gave the nascent US resistance movement an overnight unifying symbol of the growing national opposition to Trump’s policies, including his gutting of federal agencies, workforce, programs, and services.
The inverted flag action was done to call attention to deep cuts made to the already underfunded National Park Service, which has been depleted of nearly all its staff and endangered public safety, too. It took place a week after a first wave of layoffs that impacted 1,000 National Park workers. The flag was installed by park workers who rappelled down the side of El Capitan, which looms 3,000 feet over the base of Yosemite Valley. It could be seen from far away, and immediately went viral on social media, helped by hundreds of park visitors who were photographing a seasonal event known as firefall, when the setting sun turns the waterfall on El Capital a glowing orange.
The 30 x 50 foot flag was supplied by a disabled vet and maintenance mechanic at Yosemite, Gavin Carpenter, who stated, “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.” Protesters also marched at Yosemite, shouting, “Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Elon Musk has got to go!” – a reference to Elon Musk’s role in the gutting of the federal workforce as then-head of DOGE.
As they pointed out, millions of people visit America’s public parks. The mass dismissals have already led to cuts in myriad services, from the presence of experienced guides to hours and maintenance of visitor centers and public restrooms at parks.
The Yosemite action marked the start of an ongoing string of public protests at national parks across the country, including Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Joshua Tree National Park in California. Trump also fired 3000 US Forest Service employees; the agency works closely with the National Park Service, including on fire prevention. Most of the forest workers had been employed for decades; they also targeted workers who were classified as “probationary” employees, having started their jobs in the prior 12 months.
The employees immediately filed lawsuits to protest the dismissals, and have scored victories. In late March, two US District Court judges ruled that the Trump administration had to reinstate probationary employees, including all 1,000 National Park Service probationary staff; that victory followed an earlier partial reinstatement of 400 employees. The NPS also put them back on the job – not on administrative leave, as Trump’s team had sought. This victory is significant, but the bigger fight to preserve America’s natural resources remains acute, given the possibility of Trump’s budget being passed by a pliant GOP majority Congress.
“One of the bravest things I’ve seen”
Witnesses to the flag action were moved by the courage of the park employees. It was “one of the most brave things I’ve seen in person,” Reno, Nevada, resident Amber Walker, 26, told the New York Times. Added Michelle Treseler, 39, a Marin County, California resident who spotted the inverted flag with her husband, Jon Adams, as they returned from a hike, “Honestly, when I looked up, I felt inspired. I feel like our national parks are national treasures, and they need to be protected, as does our democracy. It was a call to action and a call for hope.”
In the months that have followed, NPS members have gone on the offensive to defend America’s natural resources, and to call out Trump’s policies as illegal and dangerous to the American public, using social media, including Substack, to document the impact of executive orders. They are active voices within the growing resistance of federal employees, and have called on the public to express its support of their reinstatement, and more, not less funding, for national parks.
They are urging the public to call their representatives to protest against Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” the 2026 budget plan, released May 2. It would cut over $1 billion from the National Park Service – the largest cut in its 109-year history – and would harm the protection, maintenance, and operation of America’s 400-plus national parks. The National Parks Conservation Association provides an online administrative tracker of the impact of Trump’s policies against the National Park Service since he took office on January 20.
The ongoing protests have yielded one legislative victory, which was removal of a provision in the House version of the 2026 budget plan that would have forced approval of the Ambler industrial mining road through the Gates of the Arctic National Preserve in Northwest Alaska, and impacted provisions that would transfer thousands of acres of public lands in Utah and Nevada to counties and other local entities. They would then be auctioned off to the highest bidder without opponents of the provisions. But, if passed as now written, Trump’s big budget still stands to decimate the National Parks Service.
“Rather than provide support for our overwhelmed park staff, Congress is pushing a bill that will only make matters worse for Americans who not only love their public lands, but pay taxpayer dollars to ensure their protection and care,” stated the NPCA’s director of clean energy and climate policy, Daniel Hart, in a press release.
As it stands, the actions of a few brave park workers sent a powerful global message that our democracy – and our earth – are in acute peril due to Trump’s actions, which also reflect Project 2025’s policies. Trump has followed Project 2025’s playbook and moved quickly to reverse Biden climate and environmental policies, and eliminate funding to natural resource programs, including the national parks, while opening public lands to commercial development by the fossil fuel industry. The NPS workers have been vocal about opposing these actions, too.
How do you spot an Ordinary Patriot? Just head for any of America’s national parks.