advocacy round-up! 🌞 spring is coming, and so is the resistance
public lands protests tomorrow across national parks in the US!
Let’s start this one with a hug. A deep, lingering embrace type of hug where we both just kinda collapse into each other for a brief moment. If you’re not a hugger (I’m not sometimes), let’s go step outside together and just be in the grass for a minute.
Either way: inhale sloooooooowly, hold it at the top, big exhale slooooooooowly.
First, let me say: to all the federal workers, park staff, non-profit advocacy folks, and science colleagues, I am so sorry for just everything. Every tearful phone call, hushed coffeeshop meeting and encoded voice note with y’all is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching. You all are good, hard working, dedicated Americans who care so deeply about our country, communities and land—and I promise you we are all going to do everything we can to help.
In between moments of being utterly slack-jawed every time I turn on the news, I have been considering the role I want to play right now as we galvanize towards another four years of resistance. I know I don’t want to play the role of how-to, step-by-step educator, nor do I want to be a source of breaking news anymore. There are folks out there doing both way better, and I’m eager to amplify them, but that work is not for me anymore. I want to be your neighbor. Being a good neighbor is my ultimate goal IRL, but it applies online too. I am not a journalist, nor a how-to educator, nor a politician. I’m Katie from down the block. I want to be a community member whose opinion you seek like a trustworthy friend. I want to be the kind of person you always want to share a chunk of bread and curiosity with.
More on what it means to be a neighbor soon, but more imminently, there’s a lot of chaos unfolding around us and y’all have been asking me what you can do about it.
✨ Here is What’s Happening and What You Can Do About it:
Thousands of federal workers on our public lands have been fired or had their seasonal job offers rescinded. This includes highly publicized staff reductions for our National Parks, and it’s important to note that it also includes thousands of firings of US Forest Service staff like “biologists, trail builders, maintenance workers, foresters, [and] mapping experts.” Across federal public land agencies, we’re going to see ecosystems and recreation spaces in crisis due to understaffing. More to come, but I reckon volunteer stewardship efforts will be critical this summer.
In response to what’s happening in our national parks, tomorrow 3/1 is the Protect Your Parks Protest across the country, led by the Resistance Rangers, a collective of 650+ off-duty park rangers. Here is the spreadsheet with all public protest locations! Want to organize your own? Check out this worksheet with tips here. Can’t make it to a protest (me neither)? Take a minute on Saturday to call your reps and leave a voicemail expressing your concerns about understaffing our public lands.
If you haven’t seen it already, please witness this gorgeous protest by the rangers at Yosemite National Park, who hung an upside down American flag in distress off El Capitan during the firefall.
When all the chaos of the staffing cuts at public land management agencies unfolded, Outdoor Alliance immediately stepped up with a tool to write lawmakers—and over 100,000 people took action in days. OA posted a breaking update yesterday that said, “National Parks restore seasonal staff positions, while the Forest Service is still severely understaffed. Some forests are working to restore key positions, but recreation and our public lands remain at risk. Thanks to YOU, we have sent over 100,000 letters to Congress and the administration. Lawmakers are listening, but we’re not out of the woods yet.” So keep it up y’all!
According to Center for Biological Diversity, 700 pending permits fill or destroy wetlands across the U.S. have been fast-tracked under an executive order declaring a national energy emergency. This action violates the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, so CBP is suing. No action item yet, but follow Center for Biological Diversity on Threads and Instagram to stay tuned.
Today 2/28 is a nation wide economic blackout. I’m curious + a little skeptical about the impact these one-day events actually have on capitalism itself, but definitely believe it’s a good practice for folks in this age of overconsumption. Try it out for the day—no spending, no Amazon orders, only use cash at local shops if you must. Would love y’all’s educated thoughts on these economic boycotts!
Lastly, an IRL feel good: On 3/15, the downtown Salt Lake Public Library is hosting their annual seed swap! You can bring seeds to share (but don’t have to), pick up free seeds, and do some learning at the Living Soils Summit that’ll be happening all day from 10 AM - 6 PM. Growing and sharing food is going to be a key source of joy for me this year, join me in cultivating some goodness!
What’s wild is that I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of the junk show unfolding right now. How did January last a decade and February was only a week long?! Trying to balance the urgency of all the bad stuff with the softness of remembering to feel all the feelings and also start organizing and strategizing for action is a lot.
Be kind to yourself this weekend. Take one action from this newsletter, make a call, send an e-mail, attend a protest—and then take a day of rest. Turn off social media, go eat good food, sit outside in the sunshine, and remember that spring is coming, and so is the resistance.
I adore you,
Katie Boué
Sharing the list of protest sites! Thank you
Thank you, Katie. Sharing! Hang in there. We got this!