I am very much in support of celebrating our wins when we have them — it's the only way we'll get through this very bad time — but I hesitate to celebrate too much the restoration of 50 jobs out of the 1,000 that were cut. And hiring more seasonal workers is kind of like a publication firing all its staff writers and then calling on them to be freelancers — the benefits of full-time employment aren't there.
Is this enough of a win to say that our rage was successful or that Trump reversed? I guess he backed up a few inches but .... he needs to back up way more. There are so many things to rage about right now, and I'm not ready to take this one off the list! The parks still won't be anything close to what they were unless there's more outcry and more reversal.
I feel this very much. I also can’t help but think this is just another part of the plan. Especially with only 50 out of 1000 being hired back - they get the headline that they’re re-hiring workers and most people, especially MAGA, aren’t going to dig deeper to see it’s only 5% of workers. Parks were already understaffed and now it will be worse.
Now their narrative can be, “look! We hired everyone back due to public pressure, and it still wasn’t enough! This is evidence that govt is inefficient and we need to privatize the parks!”
I too am a big fan of our national parks and was so glad to learn that at least some of the cuts/jobs have been restored. One good thing about our National Parks - they are enjoyed by people of all political persuasions, and these people can easily imagine what cuts will mean . Bipartisan support helps to move spineless politicians
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.”
Thomas Paine began American Crisis with these famous words
I'm concerned that this post makes it sound better than it is. While they may be restoring a handful of seasonal jobs that will allow the parks to stay open, they have decimated the full-time staff of many of these Parks including biologists and researchers and others that keep the environment safe and healthy. Environmental impact is not on your list of impacts of these layoffs. The parks are not just for people, they are for animals and birds and plants and trees. Here in California, they've let go of key staff that protect the California condor from extinction. In Hawaii, they've let go of the team saving native Hawaiian bird species from certain extinction. This glosses over the fact that they are closing many support facilities as of this writing. We can't rest, the parks AND our BLM and national forests are all under attack and once they're gone, we won't get them back.
I’ll take any staff being rehired as a win! I’m sad that the scientific staff will not be seen as essential for visitor access and not be rehired. The irony is one of my friend/colleagues job was to make scientific monitoring of the parks more efficient using new technologies and he was new so automatically cut for ‘poor performance’. He told his story here if you’d like to share it with your networks- https://atmos.earth/terminated-parks-employee-warns-of-the-danger-and-cruelty-of-job-cuts/
I am very much in support of celebrating our wins when we have them — it's the only way we'll get through this very bad time — but I hesitate to celebrate too much the restoration of 50 jobs out of the 1,000 that were cut. And hiring more seasonal workers is kind of like a publication firing all its staff writers and then calling on them to be freelancers — the benefits of full-time employment aren't there.
Is this enough of a win to say that our rage was successful or that Trump reversed? I guess he backed up a few inches but .... he needs to back up way more. There are so many things to rage about right now, and I'm not ready to take this one off the list! The parks still won't be anything close to what they were unless there's more outcry and more reversal.
I feel this very much. I also can’t help but think this is just another part of the plan. Especially with only 50 out of 1000 being hired back - they get the headline that they’re re-hiring workers and most people, especially MAGA, aren’t going to dig deeper to see it’s only 5% of workers. Parks were already understaffed and now it will be worse.
Now their narrative can be, “look! We hired everyone back due to public pressure, and it still wasn’t enough! This is evidence that govt is inefficient and we need to privatize the parks!”
I too am a big fan of our national parks and was so glad to learn that at least some of the cuts/jobs have been restored. One good thing about our National Parks - they are enjoyed by people of all political persuasions, and these people can easily imagine what cuts will mean . Bipartisan support helps to move spineless politicians
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.”
Thomas Paine began American Crisis with these famous words
I am also a National Park superfan. Thank you for writing this, Jo!
I'm concerned that this post makes it sound better than it is. While they may be restoring a handful of seasonal jobs that will allow the parks to stay open, they have decimated the full-time staff of many of these Parks including biologists and researchers and others that keep the environment safe and healthy. Environmental impact is not on your list of impacts of these layoffs. The parks are not just for people, they are for animals and birds and plants and trees. Here in California, they've let go of key staff that protect the California condor from extinction. In Hawaii, they've let go of the team saving native Hawaiian bird species from certain extinction. This glosses over the fact that they are closing many support facilities as of this writing. We can't rest, the parks AND our BLM and national forests are all under attack and once they're gone, we won't get them back.
I’ll take any staff being rehired as a win! I’m sad that the scientific staff will not be seen as essential for visitor access and not be rehired. The irony is one of my friend/colleagues job was to make scientific monitoring of the parks more efficient using new technologies and he was new so automatically cut for ‘poor performance’. He told his story here if you’d like to share it with your networks- https://atmos.earth/terminated-parks-employee-warns-of-the-danger-and-cruelty-of-job-cuts/