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A public rally at Great Falls Park on Saturday, March 22, will call for protecting national parks amid federal workforce reductions and proposals to expand the sale of public lands.
The demonstration begins at noon at the park, located at 9200 Old Dominion Drive in McLean. It is part of the nationwide Protect the Parks Protest organized by the Resistance Rangers, a group of about 1,000 off-duty, former and retired National Park Service employees.
Organizer Henrik Sundqvist, an Arlington artist and longtime national park visitor, said the rally seeks to build community support for park employees and public lands.
“I have been camping at National Parks since 1998. U.S. National Park staff are national treasures and allow the public to enjoy our natural and cultural resources for present and future generations,” Sundqvist said. “It is unAmerican and shortsighted to sell off our public lands to private developers and the gas and oil industry for short-term profits.”
The Resistance Rangers formed following layoffs and budget cuts that have disrupted some park services and fueled concerns about staffing, operations and visitor safety.
The National Park Service dismissed roughly 1,000 recently hired or promoted employees—about 5% of its workforce—in mid-February. At the same time, approximately 5,000 seasonal jobs were exempted from the federal hiring freeze imposed when President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
In a Feb. 27 statement, the agency said it was hiring seasonal employees to meet visitors’ changing needs and maintain access to national parks.
According to Sundqvist, those dismissed included rangers at Great Falls Park and four employees assigned to the George Washington Memorial Parkway. About 40 Park Service workers across the Washington region had reportedly been terminated by early March, with Shenandoah National Park experiencing the largest cuts.
The employment picture shifted again last week when a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to reinstate dismissed workers at several agencies, including the Department of the Interior. On Thursday, March 20, the Park Service began offering positions back to its fired probationary employees.
It remains unclear how many will return. The Interior Department also reportedly offered $25,000 severance payments on March 17 to employees who agreed to leave their jobs this spring.
The National Parks Conservation Association welcomed the court-ordered reinstatements but cautioned that park employees continue to face significant uncertainty.
“This chaotic whiplash is no way to manage the Park Service, especially as they are welcoming millions of visitors right now,” President and CEO Theresa Pierno said. “The American people love our national parks and want them protected for future generations. It’s time the administration listened.”