As many of you know, the National Park Service has either fired or had staff members take early retirement for more than 10% of the staff supporting our National Parks including Rangers, historians, and archeologists. There are indications that further cutbacks are in the works. Over the weekend supporters of the Gettysburg National Military Park turned out to show their opposition to the cuts initiated by DOGE led by Elon Musk. So far, five members of the National Park staff have been let go over the last two months.
The protest was led by Gettysburg Rising. According to the group; “The purpose of these events is to show support for Gettysburg National Military Park and, in general, the National Park Service (NPS). Recent directives from the new administration and DOGE have affected funding and personnel for National Parks, including our own.”
Gettysburg Rising says it want to preserve the history of the battle and Lincoln’s role in framing the fight as a rebirth of freedom. The group also notes that as staff is cut back, the Gettysburg area will be economically affected. The group says; “Our area is economically intertwined with tourism dollars spent by visitors to Gettysburg NMP, which was estimated at nearly fifty-five million dollars in 2023, and supports over six hundred jobs.”
The members gathered on April 27 for their first protest at the Peace Light Memorial. Several dozen local people attended the rally. The next rally at the Peace Light will be Sunday, May 25, at 1-3 pm. Please attend to defend our historic parks.
Please contact your Congressional representatives to let them know that you object to the potentially illegal firing of staff.
Call the House of Representatives Switchboard to contact your Congressperson (202) 224-3121.
When you call you will likely have a live operator who will connect you to your Congressperson, so make sure you know the name of your Congressperson!
Here is a close look at the Gettysburg layoffs.
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Sucks to be 36 trillion in federal debt. Did they offer any alternatives? I didn’t think so