DEVELOPING… visitors and staff at national parks, monuments, and forests are reeling from mass firings as the Trump administration prepares to throw open America’s public lands to corporate polluters.

We’re organizing a massive campaign to protect these wild places. We’re asking for your help: Please, renew your LCV membership today. All it takes is $5 — but any amount really helps.

At Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington, Gregg Bafundo assisted with search-and-rescue operations, maintained public trails, and helped visitors enjoy the wilderness safely and sustainably. After ten years on the job, he was promoted to lead wilderness ranger.

The promotion kicked off an administrative probationary period. Elon Musk’s “DOGE” agency then used it as an illegal excuse to fire Gregg, along with thousands of other dedicated federal workers.

On federally managed public lands across the country, the loss of rangers like Gregg is causing chaos and confusion. Yosemite National Park has suspended campground reservations, and is warning visitors to expect fewer staff and overcrowded conditions. According to the National Park Service (NPS), approximately 1,000 NPS staff — including rangers and other park experts — lost their jobs during the illicit purge of probationary workers. While these workers have been re-hired for the moment, ongoing court battles are contributing to uncertainty for their job security and what park visitors can expect in the upcoming season.

This is unacceptable — the environmental movement is responding, with your help. We’ve set a goal to reach 400 new LCV members before Earth Day to power our campaign to protect public lands. We’re mobilizing activists around the country, pressuring Congress to oppose Trump’s cuts and attacks on our lands and waters, and organizing protests in red and blue states — but we need your help to make it happen.

Please, renew your LCV membership to support our work to defend these shared lands from corporate polluters. $5 is all it takes >>

“When you were 8 years old, what did you want to do with your life? Well, I wanted to be a Marine, and I checked that box. What else? I wanted to be a park ranger.”

— Gregg Bafundo, Lead Wilderness Ranger, 
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
speaking to The Nation

Friend, Trump’s attacks on public lands have generated a MASSIVE backlash across the country. Democrats, Republicans, independents, and everyone in between are making it clear that they support keeping public lands in public hands.

The people are speaking loud and clear — now, we need to make sure lawmakers hear them.

By renewing your membership today, you can help:

• Organize protests in states and districts across the country, where Americans are standing up against Trump’s plan to hand public lands over to corporate polluters.
• Train grassroots activists to advocate for their communities and protect them from drilling, mining, and other energy exploitation on nearby public lands.
• Mobilize community members to push Congress to defend public lands, instead of allowing the Trump administration to poison the soil, air, and water that we rely on.

Renew your LCV membership today for just $5. Please don’t wait — every response helps brings us closer to our Earth Day goal >>

Thanks for standing up for public lands, Friend. 

Onward,

Chris Brooks
Vice President of Membership
League of Conservation Voters