Hundreds of people gathered on the Southern California national park site on Saturday to protest mass shootings by federal employees of the Trump administration, and express fears about the future of American public lands.
“I don’t want MacDonald to stop him from jumping out into Yosemite,” said Mara Starz, 59, of Victorville, waving an American flag near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, causing a crowd of about 200 people to gather in the morning. “I don’t want a condo with a view to look into Sequoia National Park.”
The pass driver leaned against the corner to show support.
At the King Gillette Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles filmmaker Chris Graves chanted a group of over 100 protesters, gathering in small groups with the crowd asking public land to share why public land is important to them. Participants shared both memory and fear, such as whether public lands would be open for oil and gas drilling and other industrial uses.
Protesters gathered at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas on Saturday joined the group chants, then invading smaller groups to share why public land is important to them.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Omar Pichardo, a field organizer for the Council of Mexico’s Federations in North America, attended the protests to raise awareness of the group’s fear that undocumented residents could be threatened by US immigrants and customs enforcement officers while they were about to visit federal parks.
“People don’t feel safe in the park anymore, so that’s our biggest concern, right? When people feel welcome and safe, people are no longer welcome in these spaces,” Pichardo said.
Some protesters moved outside the park and to nearby street corners. There, attendees were booed as Tesla Cybertruck passed. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, an attempt to reduce federal spending and reduce the federal government.
The Southern California protest was one of those people who were staged on Saturday at around 140 national park sites across the country by Resistance Rangers. Approximately 15 protests were planned on public lands in California, and there was a plan to support Channel Island National Park at Ventura Harbor on another Wednesday.
“This is just the beginning,” said the Resistance Ranger organizer who helped launch the Joshua Tree protest. “We’re trying to put our words out in an attempt to make some kind of movement and change.”
“One of the things that park rangers do their best is to organize and spread education, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” added the organizers who asked to remain anonymous about their retaliation concerns.
Organizer Chris Graves will gather crowds during Parks’ protests at the Anthony C. Baylenson Interagency Visitor Center at King Gillette Ranch, Calabasas on Saturday.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Heather Felix jogged between the intersection with the 3-year-old Goldendoodle hazelnuts and dressed in a butterfly cape as she wore matching wings and pink mohawks.
The 42-year-old engineer who lives in the San Bernardino Mountains said he believes federal workers have been illegally fired and wants to show them that there is community support.
“It’s important to be vocal,” she said. “You can’t just sit back and make a billionaire, the oligarchs take over.”
The protest came as part of the Trump administration’s wider push to dramatically reduce the federal workforce after many federal agencies fired almost all probation workers last month. These probation employees included both workers relatively new to federal employment and long-term employees who recently changed jobs.
Approximately 1,000 National Park Service workers have been fired. Among them were six employees at Joshua Tree National Park, which now operates at a 30% vacancy rate. The lost person included a collector of fees to assist direct traffic and respond to the incident, he said.
Community members gathered on Saturday to protest mass shootings by federal employees about the future of public land near the west entrance to Joshua Tree National Park in downtown Joshua Tree.
(Alex Wigglesworth/Los Angeles Times)
“My understanding is that the fire department is currently open, which is a major concern given the fuel loads in the park,” he added.
Authorities have also fired about eight staff members from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, including workers focused on archaeology, wildlife research and emergency medical response, according to Deanna Armblester, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Fund.
Several of these workers attended the protest at King Gillette Ranch, including Katie Preston, a park ranger who worked as an archaeological engineer until February 14th, exploring the land for natural and cultural resources.
Preston grew up in a thousand oaks, so the mountains of Santa Monica were her backyard. She frequently came with her family and found herself researching the areas she visited as a child when she became an employee.
“I really loved being a park ranger,” Preston said.
Preston’s colleague Curry Martinez, also a park ranger who worked in special park use and the park’s safety, was protesting.
Martinez had been working in the Santa Monica Mountains since 2020, but started with Park Services in March. She was considered probation as her latest position began in June.
Martinez learned he was fired in the final four minutes of his shift on February 14th. She spent the day in EMT classes paid by Park Services so she could take over emergency medical services at the park. She heads home from class and finds an email telling her she was fired “based on performance.” Martinez’s supervisor told her she was doing a great job and far surpassed her wages.
Martinez lives in the Park Service Housing and is currently traveling for 60 days. She loses her health insurance for 30 days from the date of her firing.
Martinez was one of two federal workers in the Santa Monica Mountains in response to the emergency, including lost hikers and injured climbers. Although LA County emergency workers or sheriff’s deputies can respond, they don’t know the park like Martinez and her supervisor, she said. Plus, there is no key to opening the gate.
“I know this park better than I know my hometown,” said Martinez, who originally originally from Twentynine Palms. “I just want to help people. I care about this park, I care about the visitors who visit this park and the experiences they have.
Both Preston and Martinez said it means seeing so many protesters in the park.
It included LA resident Noemi Arias, 12, who signed her own way in protest, and included a painting of a smoky bear, saying, “protecting public lands.” “I’ll rehire Smokey and my friend,” the sign demanded.
“A lot of kids have a magical experience in national parks, so they need to protect them for future generations,” she said.
Community members met Saturday to protest mass shootings by federal employees and raise concerns about the future of public land near the west entrance to Joshua Tree National Park in downtown Joshua Tree.
(Alex Wigglesworth/Los Angeles Times)
A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday discovered that mass shootings on probation government employees were likely illegal, and determined that the Personnel Management Bureau does not have the authority to fire employees from other agencies. US District Judge William Alsup gave temporary relief to a coalition of unions and advocacy groups who pleaded to halt the fire and ordered OPM to notify him of his sentence.
However, the decision did not immediately recover fired employees or guarantee that more layoffs would not be made in the future.
The National Park Service did not answer questions about the impact of the ruling, but said it employs seasonal workers. The agency received approval last week to hire 7,700 seasonal employees in a reversal of previous plans to eliminate thousands of these workers.
The White House and the Human Resources Administration did not respond to messages seeking comment on the rationale behind the judge’s ruling and shooting. President Trump previously said cuts were needed to curb the federal deficit, which reached $1.8 trillion in 2024.
“We’re cutting the size of our government. Trump said this week at his first cabinet meeting. “We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. There are a lot of people out there who aren’t doing their jobs.”
More is expected to end, according to a February 11 executive order from Trump. Trump has instructed the agency heads to prepare to begin massive cuts. A note from the Federal Budget and Personnel Office that provides additional guidance on order bodies directed to develop a restructuring plan by March 13th.
Already, some national parks have been forced to cut time or reduce services. Yosemite National Park has stopped selling summer online bookings at its most popular campsites. Colorado’s Florisant Fossil Bed National Monument has announced it will close Monday and Tuesday. Sagaro National Park in Arizona and Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas said the visitor center will be closed one to two days a week.
The city of Twentin Palms on Tuesday took precautions to avoid similar impacts as the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center near the park’s north entrance. That city council voted to amend the centre’s lease to relocate some of its obligations from Park Service to Joshua Tree National Park assn. The main non-profit partner of the park. This will leave the centre open if Park Services are forced to stop visitors’ center operations more widely, mayor Stone James said.
“The closure of the center will be harmful to downtown,” James said. “In addition, visitors will not receive important information on where to go within the national park and, most importantly, how to stay safe.”
Community members gathered on Saturday to protest mass shootings by federal employees near the west entrance to Joshua Tree National Park in downtown Joshua Tree.
(Alex Wigglesworth/Los Angeles Times)
At the Joshua Tree Rally, several community members pointed to the importance of the national park as a tourism draw that helps maintain the local economy.
“Look at the farmers’ market,” said Jim Fitzsimmons, 71. “That stuff is packed every Saturday.”
Others pointed to the need for protected natural areas to provide clean water and fresh air.
“When we ruin the land, we suffer as a species,” said Mary McClee, 62, sitting on a lawn chair next to her sister, Michelle McClee, 59.
“I never go outside and protest anything. I sit at home in front of the TV and watch it all on the news,” added Michelle. “Today I couldn’t sit inside. That’s too much. I was at home and couldn’t see our country go to the bathroom.”
Wigglesworth was reported by Joshua Tree, Cosgrove of Calabasas. Times staff writer Jack Dolan contributed to this report.
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