This Tuesday 7/22 at 7pm
I'll be interviewing the former director of the National Park Service Jon Jarvis about the state of national parks and public lands and the current threats to them.
If you're in the Bay, come join us!
It's free to register below.
www.eventbrite.com/e/how-wild-t...
Clio's is a treasure, and this sounds like a conversation of interest to all of us who love the bay and the ocean.
Bay Area folks - come thru! Me and Charles Hood in convo at Clio's Books this Thursday!
This is such a good book and I'm looking forward to nerding out with Charles about albatross, flying fish, and arguably one of the most wild places of all, the ocean.
The Wilderness Act itself doesn't say anything about flags or banners.
BTW if you want to learn more about the Wilderness Act, you should listen to my podcast, How Wild. 💅
Yosemite has now banned flags in wilderness areas, saying they're a violation of the Wilderness Act. This is coming after a year of El Cap climbers having hung a large banner saying "Stop the genocide," an upside American flag, and a trans pride flag. From SFGate:
www.sfgate.com/california-p...
Check out the rest of my thread which provides context. Yes, that is Secretary Burgum in the baseball cap at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.
The link to report any nat'l park info that is "negative about either past or living Americans" is now live:
www.nps.gov/aboutus/eo14...
Nat'l parks are supposed to post signs w/links to this form around their properties. Some rangers are calling these "snitch cards."
The sign says U.S. Department of the Interior at the top and then says: "(Name of property) belongs to the American people, and (name of land management Bureau) wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas of the (park/area, etc. as appropriate) that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement; or (3) any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features. To make a submission, please visit https://go.nps.gov/eo14253 or scan QR code." The sign then has a QR code.
National Parks and other Dept. of Interior sites are now required to hang signs around their properties with a link to a website where visitors can report if the park has any info that is "negative about either past or living Americans." Here's the official template for the sign.
I think what Burgum is alluding to is that these NPS cuts are purported to be eliminating bureaucrats.
But what I'm hearing from NPS staff is -- who's actually being cut are biologists, wilderness rangers, dispatchers, etc. Ppl who are central to the park's mission to preserve resources.
Sec. Burgum: "You gotta give me the space to try and make sure that if we're going to staff our parks, that means putting people in the parks, not putting them in lots of other places that aren't in the parks but they're still part of the park service. That's what I'm trying to do."
Sec. Burgum in the video: "I'm here because I'm trying to learn. Get feet on the ground and understand the situation. I do genuinely appreciate you coming here and sharing..."
NPS under DOGE has already reduced its staff by about 13% this year through mass layoffs, buyouts, and early retirement options. Another "reduction in force" round of staff cuts was supposed to happen this week, but a federal judge paused the cuts after unions and other groups sued.
One of the guys in the video says to Sec. Burgum:
"You appreciate it but you're going to fire them this week, huh? How many more people are you going to fire this week? You got a number?"
Sec. Burgum replies: "I don't have a number."
Sec. Burgum says: "I appreciate that you guys care deeply about the park. It's great to get your feedback. And tell your family members that work for the park that I appreciate your service."
Many current and retired employees feel that recent staff cuts are making it difficult for the Park Service to fulfill its mandate to protect parks for future generations.
The video begins mid-sentence w/a person who says she worked for the Park Service for 38 years. She's saying "...preserving it unimpaired like the law requires, we don't have any staff and researchers studying it."
Sec. Burgum is on a tour of National Parks and visited Olympic National Park in western Washington today. This appears to be at the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.
Advocates at Olympic Nat'l Park call on Sec. of Interior Doug Burgum to "stop firing rangers."
"My family works for the park.[...]They have been going to bed in tears every single night not knowing if they are going to show up to their dream career in the morning."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybBy...
El Capitan displays a massive American flag upside down—the traditional signal of distress or extreme emergency.
Protesters stand looking over a fence, where on the other side people are lining up to enter the Kaiser building where Hakeem Jeffries is speaking.
A photo of a handwritten sign that says “Rep. Jeffries help us fight. Use your voice.” Kaiser building in the background where people are lining up to enter.
Protestors stand on the side of the street holding signs that say things like “resist.”
People are demonstrating outside of Oakland’s Kaiser building tonight, where Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is speaking. Folks are chanting things like Stop the coup,” “Do your job,” and “Grow a spine.”
🎙️ON AIR:
We're speaking with environmental journalist @marissaortegawelch.bsky.social , environmental historian Phoebe Young, and outdoor educator Aparna Rajagopal about the complex history and future of our wildest landscapes.
❓What does wilderness mean for you?
📻 Listen:
🙏🏽 Yes please! Will DM you with specifics soon.
Hundreds of protesters gather outside Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to demand it roll back restrictions on transgender care for youth:
California DOE fires back against Trump's executive order:
"It does nothing"
"It is against federal law for the White House to dictate what educators can and cannot teach"
Will not comply.
Donald Trump has just released a national under 18 trans care ban executive order. I am working through specifically how it tries to do this, and will live tweet here section by section as I read through it.
It is not yet on the website, but has been released via press release.
Let me know when you and the DJ start a podcast documenting your hunt and you need a producer for it.
I have a 2015 Macbook Air that's still going strong! I love how light it is because I travel with it a lot.
this is the thing not to lose sight of.
yes, the biology of sex is complex and fascinating, with nearly endless diversity.
but also we don't use biology to decide who gets human rights. like, historically speaking that has not led to good places!
