At the San Juan Missions, citizens and visitors of San Antonio attended the “Protect the Park” protest that occurred nationwide on March 22. Protesters wore mementos from the national parks they have visited to show solidarity for the park rangers who were terminated in mid-February and to protest budget cuts causing a decline in park services across the nation.
The San Antonio Missions law enforcement office is one of 34 to be terminated under President Donald Trump’s administration. Eden, a protestor at the event, spoke about the significance of the San Antonio Missions and their advocacy to protect the parks.
“I chose this park because of the cultural significance it has to San Antonio. It’s the most accessible and most central of national parks. We hope we don’t have to migrate to protect Texas Parks, but unfortunately, Texas Parks are also under threat,” said Eden.
This was the second protest to take place since the Feb. 14 mass layoffs of nearly 1,000 newly hired National Park Service workers without warning. This is part of a broad-based effort to downsize the government and to slash federal spending.
National parks in Texas are being affected by the federal cuts, and citizens in and outside of Texas are becoming aware of this situation. A visitor of San Antonio wearing a Big Bend National Park shirt found out about the event through resistancerangers.org. The website has a community of over 800 off-duty park rangers rallying together in an effort to save National Park sites. Their mission is to preserve and protect public lands in America. Jolie H. speaks on her attendance to the San Juan Missions protest in regards to her own personal sentiments to Texas parks.
“The very first place I ever visited in San Antonio was these missions because I don’t even live in Texas” Jolie H. said.
“The parks are important to me. It’s not just parks, it’s national monuments, it’s historical sites, it’s things like Big Bend. It’s conserving space for historical culture, for ecosystems and for wildlife protection,” she stated.
While holding a “Protect our Parks” board, Hal Broth, a five year resident of San Antonio, spoke on his concern of the parks protection and his personal connection with National Parks in America.
“It matters a lot because we enjoy going to national parks and state parks,” said Broth.“My daughter lives in Montana. So every year, we go up every summer, and we visit Glacier National Park all the time. And we lived in Colorado, and we visited Rocky Mountain National Park. So even before all this, we were supporters of the park.”
There has been an increase in visitors to the parks across the nation since the cuts. Not only do families visit national parks for recreation but also as a form of education. Eden makes note of this with an encounter she had with a park ranger discussing this topic.
“I was talking to one of the rangers here and asking them, kind of like about this, the cultural significance of this park,” said Eden. “And I think one of the other things that’s very difficult for me when they attack our national parks is that it’s not just the parks in general, it’s also an attack on education. I remember coming here on a field trip when I was a kid.”
According to MySA, a federal judge ordered the reinstatement of park rangers saying that the terminations were illegal, but the Association of National Park Rangers does not anticipate workers to return due to more layoffs anticipated in the future.
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