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    Thousands Gather at National Parks Across U.S. to Protest Job Cuts

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    Thousands of people gathered on Saturday at national parks from California to Maine to protest the Trump administration’s firing of at least 1,000 National Park Service employees last month.A group called Resistance Rangers — consisting of about 700 off-duty rangers, including some who were fired from the National Park Service — tried to organize protests at each of the country’s 433 national park sites on Saturday to stand up against what they see as threats to public lands, including the job cuts. By the afternoon, there were protests at at least 145 sites, according to Nick Graver, a 30-year-old graduate student who helped organize the demonstration at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.Protests were held in popular spots like Yosemite in Northern California, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Acadia in Maine, Yellowstone in the Northwest, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Great Falls Park in Virginia, as well as lesser-known places like Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa. Tensions have been particularly high at Yosemite, where employees have unfurled upside-down American flags in protest across iconic sites like Yosemite Falls and El Capitan.Mr. Graver said his group was concerned not only about the firings but also about resource extraction on public lands and possible threats to national monuments, such as a proposal to remove the president’s power to designate national monuments.The National Park Service said it was working with protest organizers to allow people to “safely exercise their First Amendment rights,” while protecting its resources.Joshua Tree National Park in Twentynine Palms, Calif., last week.Bridget Bennett for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hundreds in Park Service Have Opted to Quit, Agency Memo Says

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      More than 700 National Park Service employees have submitted resignations as part of Elon Musk’s “fork in the road” offer, according to an internal agency memo that critics of the plan said would diminish staffing ahead of the busy summer tourism season.The news of the resignations comes after a decision earlier this month at the Department of Interior to fire more than 1,000 full-time national park employees. According to the new memo sent on Tuesday and viewed by The New York Times, the additional 700 workers who agreed to the resignation plan would not be permitted to work after March 7.The staffing cuts have sparked a public outcry. Conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts and park rangers have warned that the reductions threaten to leave hundreds of national parks understaffed during the busy summer season, and already are causing some parks to reduce hours, cancel tours and close visitor centers.The national park job losses are part of a chaotic effort by President Trump to delete thousands of federal jobs. Adding to the confusion, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said the park service also plans to rehire thousands of workers — albeit as temporary, summer positions.“The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in work force management,” Elizabeth Peace, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, said in a statement.“We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks,” she said.Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit group, has said the temporary positions are not a substitute for the employees with years of full-time experience now lost to the park system.She also noted that about 2,000 prospective seasonal employees had their job offers rescinded when Mr. Trump, during his first days in office, imposed a hiring freeze across the government. That freeze compromised the ability to accelerate the process of rehiring those people.During the warm-weather months, as many as 325 million people visit the nation’s 63 national parks and hundreds of historic sites and other attractions managed by the park service.Federal workers received the Trump administration’s resignation offer in an email last month entitled “A Fork in the Road.” Under the offer, employees who accepted it would leave their jobs, but continue getting paid through September — and those who did not accept it risked being fired. According to the Office of Personnel Management, about 75,000 workers across the government have accepted the offer. More

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      A National Park Guide Was Flying Home From a Work Trip. She Was Fired Midair.

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      Helen Dhue was flying home after a work trip to Ajo, Ariz., for the National Park Service on Friday, she said. But when she landed in Dallas for a layover, she found out she had been fired. She tried to log on to her work email, but her access was already cut off.Turns out, Ms. Dhue, a 23-year-old park guide at Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, was one of 1,000 National Park Service employees affected by the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal work force, according to groups that represent public lands and parks workers.“The department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills and abilities do not meet the department’s current needs,” read the email, which was sent to Ms. Dhue while she was in the air. (She later obtained a printed copy of the email from her boss.)The department did not immediately provide comments for this article on Saturday.The National Park Service firings came as the Trump administration escalated its efforts to cull the federal work force. Workers were also fired at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture Department and the Energy Department, among other agencies, on Friday.Many of the dismissals have targeted the roughly 200,000 federal workers who were on probationary status, generally because they had started their positions within the last year. Some fired employees, including some at the National Park Service, have already indicated that they will appeal.Mr. Trump and his supporters have backed the moves as a way to cut what they see as unnecessary government spending. “President Trump was elected with a mandate to create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans, and we are doing just that,” said a spokesperson for the E.P.A. after that agency announced layoffs.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Plane Crash Near Wright Brothers Memorial Leaves ‘Multiple’ Dead

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      A single-engine plane was trying to land when it crashed into a wooded area near the memorial in North Carolina on Saturday, the National Park Service said.Multiple people were killed after a small plane crashed at an airport in North Carolina on Saturday near the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, the National Park Service said.The single-engine airplane was trying to land at the First Flight Airport when it crashed into a wooded area nearby.The plane then caught fire, the Park Service said. It did not specify how many people died or where the flight originated.The Kill Devil Hills Fire Department responded to the fire and extinguished it, officials said.The First Flight Airport, established in 1928, is a single-runway, public-use airport that commemorates the site where Orville and Wilbur Wright made their first powered flight in 1903.The site is managed by the National Park Service.Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.The Wright Brothers National Memorial will be closed on Sunday, the Park Service said. More

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      Beaches Close in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia as Needles Wash Ashore

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      Beachgoers were urged to stay out of the water after dozens of hypodermic needles, as well as tampon applicators and other medical waste, were found on beaches over the weekend.The authorities closed beaches in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware to swimmers on Sunday after medical waste — including used hypodermic needles and used feminine hygiene products — washed up in popular vacation spots.The closures stretched along nearly 50 miles of coast from Fenwick Island in Delaware to Chincoteague Island in Virginia. The beaches include Assateague Island, a barrier island that stretches 37 miles along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia, as well as Ocean City, Md., and Dewey Beach in Delaware.“We currently have no idea where it came from and will not be speculating about a source,” the National Park Service office at Assateague Island National Seashore said of the medical waste in a statement on Facebook.Along with used needles, the authorities said they also discovered used tampon applicators, colored needle caps, and cigarillo cigar tips. An Assateague park manager told The Washington Post that crews had discovered the garbage early Sunday while patrolling after high tide. They had found nearly 50 needles there, and enough waste material to fill a five-gallon bucket. The official added that no injuries or incidents had been reported, and swimmers had not encountered the objects.The waste began coming ashore on Sunday morning, officials at Assateague said, and they were unsure how long beaches in the area would remain closed.The alerts impacted dozens of miles of coastline, including busy tourist beaches, as authorities not only urged caution among swimmers, but in many areas forbade activities in the water, including swimming, wading and surfing.“Until we are confident that the situation is under control, we recommend wearing shoes on the beach and avoiding the ocean entirely,” Joe Theobald, the director of Emergency Services in Ocean City, Md., said in a statement.It’s not the first time that tides have scattered such hazardous material along the eastern seaboard. In 2021, floodwaters in New York City caused sewage releases in New York harbor that sent hundreds of used syringes along the Jersey Shore. At the time, authorities believed many were likely used by diabetics, who had flushed the needles down the toilet after use.And, in 1987, dozens of miles of New Jersey shoreline were shut down after hospital waste and raw garbage suddenly appeared on beaches. In that instance, incensed officials believed the waste was illegally dumped by a passing barge.It was unclear on Monday how long the beaches would remain closed. Shorelines still remained off-limits to swimmers on Sunday evening. More

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      Man Dies During River Trip in the Grand Canyon

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      His death is the seventh reported in Grand Canyon National Park since July 31.A Colorado man was found dead in Grand Canyon National Park on Saturday, according to the National Park Service. It is the seventh death reported there in less than two months.The man, Patrick Horton, 59, of Salida, Colo., was on a self-guided river trip with a group along the Colorado River when he was found dead by others in the group, the Park Service said in a statement.The Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center, the dispatcher for emergency operations in the area, received a report around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday of a death in an area known as Poncho’s Kitchen, near River Mile 137 along the Colorado River, the Park Service said. Park rangers arrived to find Mr. Horton dead at the scene, the agency said.Mr. Horton died on the 10th day of a private, self-guided river trip, which requires a river permit that is won through a lottery system, the Park Service said.A cause of death has not been released. The Park Service said it was investigating the death in coordination with the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office.Representatives for the Park Service and the medical examiner’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday evening.The Grand Canyon National Park, in northern Arizona, attracts millions of visitors each year, many of them hikers who descend thousands of feet from the rim of the canyon to the Colorado River below. According to the Arizona Office of Tourism, about 5,000 of the 27,000 people who travel along the river through the Grand Canyon each year do so on private trips with the appropriate park permits.The death is the seventh reported in Grand Canyon since July 31, according to previous news releases from the Park Service. Others include a 60-year-old hiker from North Carolina who was on a multiday backpacking trip when he was reported missing by a relative; an unidentified 80-year-old man who died after his boat flipped over in a river; Chenoa Rickerson, a 33-year-old woman whose body was found after a flash flood; and Leticia A. Castillo, 20, whose body was found 150 feet below an overlook.There have been at least 15 deaths in Grand Canyon so far this year, including six fatalities reported over two separate weeklong periods this summer, The New York Times reported.The park averages about 17 deaths per year, with the most common cause being cardiac arrest, according to data from the last decade. More

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      Another North Carolina House Collapses Amid Hurricane Ernesto’s Waves

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      In Rodanthe, N.C., seven homes have been lost to the ocean in the last four years, as rising sea levels erode shorelines and put more buildings at risk. In the community of Rodanthe on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, residents witnessed on Friday an event that was not new and is unfortunately becoming more frequent: A house on the picturesque shoreline collapsed into the ocean.Weather experts said that crashing waves produced by Hurricane Ernesto hundreds of miles away, combined with especially high tides, appeared to be the cause, though local officials also said that the house was at risk of collapsing before the storm. For those on the Outer Banks, the destruction was one more stark reminder of the larger force at play — climate change, which is making storms more intense and sea levels higher, accelerating the erosion of beach fronts.Rodanthe, home to about 200 people, has lost seven homes to the ocean in the past four years. The house that was destroyed on Friday was unoccupied at the time of the collapse. There have been no reports of injuries from any of the seven collapses, according to the National Park Service. Officials warned that many more homes are at risk for damage or collapse in the coming days as Hurricane Ernesto pummels the East Coast from afar, even as it follows a path that is not expected to hit the mainland United States. Some other homes near Rodanthe have already appeared to sustain damage. Forecasters predict that the storm could bring dangerous rip currents and a high surf along the East Coast through the weekend. The risks could persist in the Outer Banks through early next week, they said. In North Carolina, climate change has caused the sea level to rise by about half a foot since 2000, and the level could rise by about another foot by 2050, said William Sweet, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Two Hikers Die in Canyonlands National Park in 100-Degree Temperatures

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      A father and daughter were found dead in the park after they texted 911 that they ran out of water and were lost while hiking in triple-digit temperatures.A man and his daughter died in Canyonlands National Park in Utah on Friday after they ran out of water and texted 911 for help while hiking along a challenging trail in temperatures of well over 100 degrees, according to the park officials and the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.The causes of death had not been determined, but emergency dispatchers received text messages on Friday afternoon from the man, Albino Herrera Espinoza, 52, and his daughter Beatriz Herrera, 23, that said they had run out of water and were lost. National Park Service rangers and Bureau of Land Management personnel found both of them later that afternoon, already dead.There was an excessive-heat warning in the park at the time and the high temperature for the day was 106 degrees, according to AccuWeather.The two, who were from Green Bay, Wis., were hiking the Syncline Trail, which is considered strenuous and is where most of the rescues in the park occur, according to Canyonlands National Park. The trail is a little over eight miles and has a steep elevation change of about 1,500 feet.Karen Garthwait, public affairs specialist for Southeast Utah Group parks, said the trail has sections where hikers are between rock walls that radiate heat — and that hiking in these spots is sometimes referred to as “being in the oven.”The two deaths were the latest in Southwestern parks at a time when heat waves have consumed much of the United States. Millions of people in the western United States have experienced back-to-back days with triple-digit temperatures. June broke global heat records for the 13th consecutive month.On July 7, a 50-year-old man was found dead while hiking in Grand Canyon National Park during a heat wave. His cause of death is still not known. He was the third hiker to have died there in less than a month amid the heat.In late June, two people died from heat-related causes at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and another died in Death Valley National Park on July 6.Park officials in both Canyonlands and Grand Canyon National Park warn against hiking during the hottest hours of the day, especially during heat advisories. In both parks, there is little shade on trails to protect people from the sun, and heat can increase as hikers descend into canyons.There have been 26 deaths in Canyonlands National Park from 2007 to April 2023, according to National Park Service data. Two of those deaths have been from hyperthermia, which is when the body overheats. More

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      SpaceX’s Assault on a Fragile Habitat: Four Takeaways From Our Investigation

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      The development of Elon Musk’s facility in South Texas did not play out as local officials were originally told it would.When Elon Musk first eyed South Texas for a new base of space operations, he promised that SpaceX would have a small, eco-friendly footprint and that the surrounding area would be “left untouched.”A decade later, the reality is far different. An investigation by The New York Times shows how SpaceX’s ferocious growth in the area has dramatically changed the fragile landscape and has threatened the habitat that the U.S. government is charged with protecting there.More repercussions are likely coming, in South Texas and in other places where SpaceX is expanding. Mr. Musk has said he hopes to one day launch his Starships — the largest rocket ever manufactured — a thousand times a year.Executives from SpaceX declined repeated requests to comment. But Gary Henry, who until this year served as a SpaceX adviser on Pentagon launch programs, said the company was aware of concerns about SpaceX’s environmental impact and was committed to addressing them.Here are four takeaways from our investigation:Musk used preserved lands as a buffer for SpaceX operationsRocket launch sites in the U.S., such as Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Kennedy Space Center in Florida, typically are enormous, secure facilities with tens of thousands of acres within their confines.Mr. Musk didn’t intend to buy up anything like that amount of land when he was looking at the area near Brownsville, Texas. Instead, he wanted to buy a tiny piece of property in the middle of public lands — what the team involved referred to as a “doughnut hole.” He figured the surrounding state parks and federal wildlife preserves would serve as natural buffers.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More