Weekend protests

Dire situation in Joshua Tree and Yosemite leads to weekend protests

By Olivia Hebert

Protests erupted at two of California’s most iconic national parks over the weekend as demonstrators in Yosemite and Joshua Tree rallied against sweeping layoffs they say will cripple park operations.

In Joshua Tree, locals and business owners, including photographer Casey Kiernan and climbing guide Seth Heydon Zaharias, gathered outside the visitor center, holding signs and passing out flyers. Meanwhile, in Yosemite Valley, protesters used the park’s firefall event at Horsetail Fall to highlight the staffing crisis.

“These cuts ripple through the entire community — businesses, families and visitors. It’s not just about a few jobs; it’s about whether this place can function,” said Kiernan, a longtime Joshua Tree resident who manages the @visit_joshuatree Instagram page and hosts photography workshops in the park.

The demonstrations followed mass layoffs across the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service. On Feb. 14, the agency terminated 1,000 employees, including six rangers at Joshua Tree. A day earlier, 3,400 U.S. Forest Service workers were also dismissed, part of a larger effort to reduce the federal workforce by more than 200,000 jobs.

The staffing reductions have drawn criticism from park advocates and former officials. Beth Pratt, a National Wildlife Federation regional executive director who has worked in and around Yosemite for decades, told SFGATE she had never seen anything like this in her 55 years.

The cuts followed Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order freezing federal hiring. Within days, thousands of incoming federal employees — including seasonal Park Service hires — were notified that their job offers had been revoked, despite a government memo stating that seasonal staff should be exempt. By Jan. 28, the administration indicated that additional layoffs were coming, with probationary employees identified as the most at risk.

Then, on Feb. 6, another round of terminations affected positions including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs. Some seasonal law enforcement roles were later reinstated, though the extent of those reversals remains unclear.

At Yosemite, demonstrators raised concerns about how staffing reductions could impact basic park services, such as in the form of restroom closures, delayed search-and-rescue response times, and increased strain on remaining rangers. Some employees who were laid off expressed frustration with the abruptness of the terminations, including Aleksander Chmura, a former park custodian who learned he was fired just one day before the protest.

“The past 24 hours, I’ve cried more than I have in my entire life,” Chmura told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It just feels like your world was taken out from underneath you.” (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Andrea Cherney, one of the demonstrators, explained to the Chronicle the risks posed by a diminished workforce.

“Without us, there’s a big potential parks could close. Bathrooms would be locked because we don’t have people to clean them. There’s no water filtration. Sewage could seep into rivers, and gateway communities could burn down without firefighters,” Cherney said. “Paramedics need to respond to calls. If someone falls in the woods, no one’s going to be able to come for them.”

In Joshua Tree, where the layoffs included fee collection staff and visitor service employees, the strain is already evident. “Joshua Tree already had 30 open positions before this,” Kiernan told SFGATE. “National parks are understaffed as it is. Now they’re cutting even more? This just felt arbitrary.”

Zaharias said staffing shortages are already leading to longer wait times and logistical issues at park entrances.

“On Saturday morning, I drove into the park, and what’s usually a 15- or 20-minute drive took me an hour,” Zaharias said. “There were only two people working at the entrance. On a holiday weekend, that’s unheard of.”

With staffing levels slashed, residents fear Joshua Tree won’t be able to keep up with crowds, maintenance or emergency situations in the months ahead.

As fire season nears and a possible government shutdown looms in March, the future of national park operations remains uncertain.