In just three days, thousands of people passionate about public lands have mobilized to protest at 169 National Park sites across the country. On February 26th, the off-duty park ranger group @resistancerangers called for action to protect America’s public lands. In the 3 days since, the resistance account has gained 20,000 followers on social media. And on Saturday 3/1, thousands of patriotic people showed up to NPS sites to protest, representing a groundswell of nationwide public support for federal workers and the National Park Service’s mission to protect parks for the public and future generations.

A group of people united by their concern for public lands and employees of federal land management agencies will protest nationwide Saturday, March 1. This effort was spearheaded by a group of 650+ off-duty park rangers rallying to save public lands and protect civil servants. Rangers and the Parks themselves are under threat and we need to speak up. America’s Best Idea is yours to save!

We stand with all other public land agencies that share our values in stewarding the land and recognize the inherent value of biodiversity and thriving ecosystems.

The agencies managing our public lands do not have fat to trim. Prior to the recent firing of National Park Service employees, the department was already critically understaffed: employee numbers have decreased by 20% in the last 15 years while visitation has risen more than 15%. The National Park Service’s 2025 budget authority request was for $4.81 billion: Meanwhile, in 2022 visitors spent $23.9 billion in local gateway regions, supporting more than 378,000 jobs, generating $17.5 billion in labor income, $29 billion in economic value added, and $50.3 billion in total economic output.

Photo by Patrick Mueller