Firefall is on Strike
About the flag
The American flag is a symbol of unity, pride and honor. The flag represents the ideals, values, history and people of our nation, and we recognize and understand the importance of treating the flag with respect and dignity. The upside-down flag is used as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
The American flag used in this peaceful protest was donated by a United States veteran. The flag will be taken down when it is no longer illuminated, and will be handled and folded following proper etiquette.
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. The Department of the Interior issued a series of secretarial orders that position drilling and mining interests as the favored uses of America’s public lands and threaten to scrap existing land protections and conservation measures. 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.
Making the invisible visible
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. Mass firings at the US Forest Service, resulting in a 10% staffing cut, will interrupt land management work that will leave the U.S. more exposed to damaging wildfires. 800 employees out of 10,000 were fired from the Bureau of Land Management which is responsible for managing 245 million acres of federal land.
The impact is both immediate and long term. Last week passionate public servants with stellar performance records - whether 10 years into their career or 10 days - received a stock email saying their continued employment is not in the interest of the public. Here’s who we lost: trail crews, plumbers, engineers. We lost plumbers, forestry crews, packers. We lost HVAC specialists, archeologists, interpretative rangers. We lost admin support staff, custodial crews, and wildlife specialists. 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 - and photoshopping it out as crossing the picket line.
The long term impact is maintenance backlog, reduced park services, park closures, and an increase in unsafe or negative experiences for visitors at parks. The long term impact is subcontracting out services to private companies at a higher cost to the government, closing parks and areas of recreation, and selling off of public land. Once our lands are in state or private control, they’re gone forever. Unlike our national government, the states are not obligated to preserve our wildlands, or even keep them public. The long term impact is gateway communities suffering reduced income, loss of important historical, cultural, spiritual, and ecological resources, damage to broader regional ecosystems, and less recreational opportunities.
Stop the steal
Some entities like the National Park Service have high visibility; others, like the US Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or even the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), may be less visible. So we ask:
Stop the callous firing of employees across the federal government and reinstate the terminated positions. This performative chaos hurts people, damages valued institutions, and does not further the interest of the nation.
Stop efforts to dismantle land protections to serve corporate interests. Protect native lands from further exploitation, national monuments from developments and waterways from contamination.
Speak up for America’s public lands and the people who have dedicated their lives to protecting them.
Move fast and break things doesn’t work here; these lands hold values, ideals along with natural and cultural resources that may never be fixed if broken and exploited. Let’s keep them in public hands for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.
Sources and Resources
❖ Free Speech Center: Flying Flag Upside Down
❖ Veterans of Foreign Wars: Flag Etiquette
❖ DOI - Secretary Doug Burgum Signs First Round of Secretary's Orders to Unleash American Energy
❖ Vox.com - The crisis coming for our national parks, explained in two charts
❖ National Parks Service - FY 2025 Budget Justification and Fiscal Information