By Katherine Abayev
The United States possesses beautiful nature that is incredibly unique, from the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the Appalachians to the Everglades in Florida, and the Redwoods in California. These parks are open to visit and enjoy the nature, the animals, the views, and the fresh air. There are perks like camping and stargazing for those who wish to. Even the most technologically inclined, modern man will find something to enjoy at these wonderful parks.
However, the national parks in the U.S. are unfortunately facing hardship now. To increase the budget for border control, there have been major budget cuts in different areas of the government. The national parks being one of them, which involved major layoffs for many people working at the parks. These layoffs were very controversial, with one side believing that the budget needs to be maximized for the country’s needs and the other side valuing the parks and the people who work there, and do not agree with mass firing.
There is an event that takes place once a year at Yosemite National Park where the sun hits a waterfall in such a perfect way, and it is called the “Firefall”. This event attracts hundreds of people to see the sight, especially photographers who wish to take a photo of this event. However, this year, to the left of the fall, there was an American flag hung upside down. According to the flag code, that is a signal for distress, a clear cry out for everyone being affected by the layoffs.
There were many reactions to this silent protest, but it was made clear that those in the national park service are very upset with this decision. Many rangers and people who work in the parks say that if they are understaffed, the public cannot be protected as well as they should be. They do not want to see incidents like people interacting with animals in negative ways, people overheating, and more that can happen in nature.
Nodira Kazakova, a junior computer science student weighed in on the budget cuts.
“It really sucks that the budget for national parks was cut. It should not have been cut, I think it should have been increased! It is really crazy to cut the budget for the national parks because the United States is already not a very environmentally friendly country. Isn’t the whole world trying to preserve parks, while we are cutting the budget for them? This is especially sad since the U.S. has such beautiful and diverse nature.”
Kazakova brings up the importance of nature and the unique landscape only found in the U.S. that many Americans agree should be kept safe for the public to explore.
Lucas Hornung, a Junior computer science student, spent time working at the national parks and getting to know the community.
“This decision is really ignorant and it’s cutting into a demographic of public servants who get paid the least and they are working dangerous jobs. Stuff like this directly affects the public. When I worked with the forest, I worked with explosives. It is important for the public to have safe public places,” he said.
The national parks are there to give normal people a chance to see some of the most beautiful places in the world in a safe and accessible environment.
“Half of the ground level workers I worked with were laid off last week. These trails that are barely maintained are going to be even more unmaintained. Trail crews are essential. You don’t see any of the administrative stuff when you go visit. The access to trails is going to be limited this summer,” he went on to say.
Hornung is opening the curtain to help us see an area of the government that most people do not think about when they go visit. The national parks are uneasy and unhappy with these decisions and they are nervous for the upcoming busy seasons when it gets warmer out.
“The people I knew who got fired were told so in an email that said something like, ‘unfortunately your position has been terminated due to unsatisfactory performance’, while many of them had not even received performance reviews or if they did, were told that they were doing well. This was devastating for people who work there because they love nature. I hate to see it,” Hornung added.
Going forward, Kazakova suggested “Encouraging donations from people and big corporations, to help with protection for the park, just anything to keep them going.”
Overall, these parks are national treasures and there has been some ease given. A few parks were allowed to continue hiring some seasonal positions. Their unrest has been shown through their silent protests and outspokenness. All that can be done is to keep areas clean, be understanding of one’s surroundings, not interfere with nature, and keep distance from wild animals.
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