Employees of Yosemite National Park hung an upside-down flag on El Capitan to protest Trump administration's firing of about 1,000 park service employees. Gavin Carpenter, a maintenance mechanic with Yosemite who supplied the flag, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the protest aimed to bring attention to "what's happening to the parks, which are every American's properties." He said: "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." Newsweek has contacted the National Park Service for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The protest came after the Trump administration last week fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees who were responsible for maintaining and cleaning parks, and educating visitors, including several who worked at Yosemite. The U.S. Flag Code states that the American flag should never be upside down "except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property." Once a signal of distress for sailors, the inverted flag has been used a symbol of protest by both the left and right on a range of issues for decades. In recent years, it has come to be associated with the right and was embraced by supporters of President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" campaign as he touted baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
What To Know
The inverted flag was draped over El Capitan, a vertical rock formation and one of the park's most popular attractions, on Saturday afternoon. Six demonstrators rigged ropes at the top of El Capitan and rappelled down its face to unfurl the flag, the Chronicle reported. It occurred as many visitors were in the Yosemite Valley to see Horsetail Fall illuminated by the setting sun, a sight that usually only appears in late February. The group of protesters said in a statement to the newspaper that the "purpose of this exercise of free speech is to disrupt without violence and draw attention to the fact that public lands in the United States are under attack." Eleven of Yosemite's full-time employees lost their jobs, including its only locksmith, according to the Chronicle.
What People Are Saying
The protesters' statement, provided to the Chronicle, added: "Firing 1,000s of staff regardless of position or performance across the nation is the first step in destabilizing the protections in place for these great places." These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and members of the public—we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike." Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, told Newsweek: "National parks are more popular than they ever have been … from Gettysburg to Independence Hall, to the Everglades, to Rocky Mountain, to Yellowstone and Yosemite. Millions upon millions of Americans love our national parks and visit them every year." If people aren't having those quality experiences, or those bathrooms aren't open, or the visitor centers aren't available, and there aren't enough park rangers—that can really affect the quality of people's visits and may deter [them] from visiting. The effects are dramatic and harmful both to the parks themselves, but also to the local communities that depend on them economically.
What's Next
Following a backlash, the Trump administration is planning to restore the jobs of at least 50 National Park Service employees, according to The Associated Press. On Friday, the Trump administration reversed a hiring freeze on seasonal employees, allowing the park service to hire up to 7,700 seasonal workers, higher than the three-year average of 6,350, ABC News reported.
