They are working to close down OUR NATIONAL PARKS. They are bringing out the chainsaws to log OUR LAND and cut down OUR TREES. They are shuttering museums and working to hide away OUR NATIONAL TREASURES. Don’t let them do it. It’s time to resist.
Are you with me?
Because your children damn well need you to fight. Right now. Before the parks are closed, the timber stripped, the treasures boxed away in a forgotten hole.
Children benefit from the parks
My kids understand the majesty and cultural heritage guarded by the National Parks Service. They’ve been to:
1. 1607 Fort at Jamestown
Where they played on the banks of the James River, met an actual descendant of Powhatan, marveled as I told them how I worked as an Archaeologist there years ago.
2. The Battle of Guilford Courthouse
Where they rode bikes during the pandemic, climbed on old cannons, talked with Revolutionary War reenactors, and found out that Hamilton isn’t just a musical.
3. Yorktown Battlefield
Where they conjured up General Greene chasing Cornwallis out of North Carolina up into Virginia – and the COLONISTS WON. And where one of them lost a water bottle and the incredible folks on site found it and held onto it for 3 months til we could return for it.
4. Booker T. Washington’s Birth Place
Where they learned about the horrors facing the enslaved in Virginia and the powerful story of this hero who founded Tuskegee University.
5. Harper’s Ferry
With its natural wonders at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. Where they ate ice cream and walked the cobblestone roads, and learned how JOHN BROWN LED A SLAVE REVOLT. Because slavery is wrong. And they discovered that Robert E. Lee was the US Colonel in charge of capturing him – the same Robert E. Lee who led the Confederate Army during the Civil War and who recklessly commanded the Virginians, with my great great great grandfather in toe, to march during the bloody Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg. And they wrestled with the fact that their Southern ancestors were the “bad guys.”
6. Appomattox Courthouse
Where they wandered around the room where Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant for the GOOD OF THE UNION. And they read the plaques about how DEMOCRACY LIVED ON.
7. Acadia National Park
Where they discovered the beauty of Maine’s rocky coast, dared Thunder Hole to douse them in mist, gazed at a rainbow on Cadillac Mountain, climbed the lighthouse tower on Swan’s Island where their great grandfather was the lighthouse keeper, and tasted Old Soaker Blueberry Soda.
8. The Great Smoky Mountains
With its towering peaks and so many wildflowers. Where they hiked a gazillion waterfall hikes, watched elk walk down the road, marveled at a momma black bear and her two cubs, and wondered how our Cherokee ancestors avoided the Trail of Tears.
9. Yosemite
Where they hiked to even more waterfalls, tried to hug a Giant Sequoia, biked to Mirror Lake to swim in icey waters, watched a cinnamon bear eat meadow grasses, and stared in awe at El Capitan.
These sites connect my children with the beginnings of American democracy – the good and bad. They connect my children with our family stories passed down through generations. They connect my children with wonders too fantastic to describe. They connect my children to nature and physical fitness and mental health and spirituality. These sites are there for you and your children, too.
For now…
Our parks are under threat
Let me take you back to Harper’s Ferry for a minute. There, you’ll find my dear friend from high school working to conserve the collections – OUR NATIONAL TREASURES. She preserves the artifacts that captured the imagination of my boys and brought John Brown and his gang of heroes to life.
She has a message for you. One which she cannot share because of the Hatch Act that “limits certain political activities of federal employees.”
So, I bring you her words. Because you have the right to know just how real the threat against our National Parks truly is.
I have a sad update to share.
The building that houses our conservation labs, the NPS History Collection (that houses the historic NPS uniform collection!), and the HFC Commissioned Art Collection (that houses the original Charley Harper NPS posters!) is slated for lease termination.
We are supposed to lose our building and somehow find existing space for us to squeeze into… one that can house over 3 MILLION objects, and provide space for specialized lab equipment that we’ve amassed over the past 50 years for 6 different conservation material specialties. Plus safety features that are needed when using harmful chemicals.
We don’t know when it will happen. Maybe next year, maybe next week. But when it does, we only have 120 days to vacate.
We are the only unit like this in the entire National Park Service, with the only textiles conservator, furniture conservator, and natural history conservator. We are not redundant.
In the meantime, travel has been forbidden, purchase cards have been taken away (I know of one site that can’t pay their water bill now and water will be turned off). We can’t do our jobs.
This is not efficient, this is a random selection/list of buildings chosen with no regard for what is housed in the building and what its purpose is. Although it’s a leased building, it has been outfitted for our purposes.
Another building on the list houses archeological material for several Parks across the southeast (a repository so that each park doesn’t have to have their own collection building… which is actually efficient). It houses 8 MILLION objects. Where are they going to go?
Our job is literally to preserve America. We keep important artifacts from our collective history from deteriorating. So they remain for the next generation.
What will happen when we’re gone? So much for preserving national history.
How you can help save our parks
Educate yourself.
Explore Trump’s executive order to log the parks and its impact on the environment – and why trees are important for your children’s health.
Stay informed.
Read up on the proposed National Park closures.
Spread the word.
Tell folks how much REVENUE the parks generate: $55.6 BILLION DOLLARS, y’all!
Hold your elected officials accountable.
Write your representatives in Congress and your Senators. They need to know YOU CARE. They focus on things that will get them reelected. Let them know THIS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS. And remember, the midterm elections aren’t that far away!
Protest.
Exercise your First Amendment right to assemble and picket. The marches at the parks are happening! You can make your own classy poster and join in the fun!! With or without your kiddos.
Donate to your favorite “Friends of the Park” organization.
Here’s one for the Great Smoky Mountains to get you started: https://friendsofthesmokies.org/
What are you willing to do to fight and save OUR National Parks – for your children?
Comment below or spread the message on Facebook at MothersRest #resist