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On Saturday, February 22, the American national flag was hoisted upside down from the 3,000-foot-tall granite formation at El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The image of the moment, captured by photographer Brittany Colt, has gone viral across social media. It was witnessed by hundreds of tourists, photographers, and climbers who had gathered in the area for the annual natural Firefall at Horsetail Fall.
A group of six Yosemite employees flew the U.S. national flag upside down as a protest against the new Donald Trump administration for their ongoing federal job cuts. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, at least 11 full-time staffers lost their jobs at the national park, sparking the protest. These included EMTs, rangers, wildland firefighters, and Yosemite's sole locksmith.
“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,” a public statement released by the protestors read.
The statement further emphasized a series of “secretarial orders” issued by the Department of the Interior 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,” it added.
According to the Free Speech Center, hanging a flag upside down has historically served as a distress signal for ships. It later evolved into a symbol of political protest.
Notably, the American flag code specifies that the national flag should not be displayed in an inverted position "except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property,” as reported by Hindustan Times. However, the code is not legally enforceable.
SF Gate reported that the flag was displayed upside down for several hours on Saturday before the demonstrators took it down.
More about the American flag hanging upside down at the Yosemite National Park
Over the weekend, workers at Yosemite National Park displayed the U.S. national flag upside down, the picture of which has now garnered traction online. It was an act of protest against the layoffs and “targeted reductions” affecting hundreds of thousands of federal employees nationwide, including those at Yosemite.
“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,” the protestors’ statement read.
As per NBC Los Angeles, Yosemite employees were concerned about visitor experiences and wildlife welfare due to the ongoing layoffs. Wilderness ranger Jackson Fitzsimmons, one of the 11 employees dismissed from the park, spoke to the crowd and emphasized that the protest aimed to peacefully highlight the new government's focus on drilling and mining rather than the conservation of public lands.
In addition to the termination of nearly a dozen employees at Yosemite, at least 2,000 others lost their jobs in February alone, including recent hires at the U.S. Forest Service. More than a thousand were also laid off from the National Park Service, which employs over 20,000 people, in a move now being referred to as the “Valentine’s Day massacre” on social media.
In the wake of these recent layoffs, lawmakers in the U.S. and advocacy groups such as the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks have condemned the Trump administration, labeling it a threat to public safety and parks. In response, a couple of Democratic senators and six House members from Virginia are reportedly planning to reverse the layoffs at the National Park Service, as reported by AP.
“These roles are critical to protecting America’s treasured natural assets, maintaining public safety and promoting exceptional standards,” the lawmakers wrote in a signed letter addressed to Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary.
“If these directives are not reversed, we fear it will significantly undermine the Park Service’s ability to protect both visitors and park resources, particularly as we approach peak visitation season.”
According to NBC LA, at least 50 jobs across the parks are expected to be restored, along with the hiring of seasonal workers.
Alex Wild, a park ranger and emergency medical technician at Devil’s Postpile in Yosemite, who was laid off from the National Park Service on February 14 after working 15 years in the role, told The Independent that he is “legitimately concerned about people just ripping their Jeep around the meadow because they feel like there's no one to do anything about it. And maybe there won’t be.”
The 35-year-old explained that employees do a lot of work “protecting” national parks like Yosemite and Yellowstone, which the ongoing job cuts would hamper. Notably, Yosemite workers not only worked on the campus but were also provided housing nearby. Thus, the layoffs have also impacted people’s stable living conditions.
Yosemite National Park in Sierra Nevada, California, is one of the most popular national parks in the country, attracting 3 to 5 million visitors annually.
