Impacted federal employees protest DOGE cuts in Jackson Hole, joining nationwide demonstrations

National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service employees join hundreds on Square to oppose firing of workers.

JACKSON — Amid the hundreds of grown-ups gathered Saturday on the Town Square, chanting about Elon Musk and lambasting the Department of Government Efficiency, the preschool-aged daughter of two Grand Teton National Park rangers alternately blew bubbles, scribbled on cardboard and sat perched on her dad’s shoulders, holding a sign that said “Junior Resistance Ranger.”

Her parents had been spared from the Trump administration’s recent federal firing spree. But her dad explained that his family had too much on the line for him to be able to talk about what’s going on in the park, glancing up at his daughter as she reveled in the music, chanting and honking of the energetic crowd.

They weren’t the only protesters with skin in the game — or fear of retribution — on the Square, which served as the Grand Teton locale of a wave of more than 150 protests at national parks in opposition to the Trump administration’s recent purge of federal employees who manage public lands.

Interspersed among Teton County residents eager to broadcast their love of public lands and their contempt for President Trump were current U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service employees braving the event in spite of fears for their livelihood, as well as others who already have been impacted by the administration’s layoffs and hiring freeze.

Current employees of the National Park Service, Forest Service and nonprofits associated with the park declined to speak on the record for fear of retribution.

Scott Guenther, a retired Grand Teton ranger who served in the park for more than 30 years, primarily in search and rescue, spoke up on behalf of his former colleagues.

“I’m trying to show my support for my fellow workers who are mostly afraid to be here, for fear of getting identified and fired for no good reason,” he said.

He called the Trump administration’s treatment of federal employees “demoralizing,” “pathetic” and “sad.”

On the other side of the square, Eleanor, 23, greeted her former colleagues.

She was laid off in February, six months after moving from Nebraska to Wyoming to take her first job out of college as an administrative assistant at Grand Teton park. She asked that she only be identified by her first name.

“I teared up a little bit getting here today,” she said. “I honestly wouldn’t want to be in any other community right now.”

Eleanor was one of four Grand Teton employees to be laid off last month. The park’s leadership threw a goodbye party for them.

“Our supervisor and superintendent are amazing. We’re really lucky to have good leadership,” she said. “I felt really supported as a Park Service employee.”

She was determined to stay in Jackson, and the community rallied to find her a new job in the area. “Everybody jumped in to help me find something, within a week,” she said.

Several protesters had been in and out of the Park Service over the years, putting in summers or winters as seasonal employees.

Ashleigh Monaco, who lives in Driggs, Idaho, worked as a seasonal ranger in Grand Teton last summer. She has been an on-and-off resident of the region since working a seasonal job for a park concessioner in 2019.

She had planned to skip town this summer for a seasonal job in fee collection at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. Her offer, however, was rescinded at the end of January as part of a federal hiring freeze instituted in the early days of the second Trump presidency.

That freeze was later unfrozen. Monaco received an email last week offering her the job, one of many positions restored as part of the Trump administration’s decision to reinstate seasonal hiring.

Torn between her sense of commitment to the parks and fears about being a federal employee under the current administration, she’s unsure if she’ll take the job.

She pointed to directives eliminating funding for and removing any reference to diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion initiatives.

“I’m just a little nervous about the work environment,” she said. “I’m worried for my coworkers, my friends, myself, if we can’t do work like DEAI. I want everybody to feel comfortable at work.”

Protesters unaffiliated with the Park Service and Forest Service did not mince their words about their reasons for attending the protest.

“Within a month, for somebody to come in and try to take away the support and the management of these wonderful gifts of ours is an atrocity,” said Rick Nelson, who has been a resident of Star Valley Ranch since the early 2000s. “There are many reasons to be upset about the last four or five weeks, but this one for us is near and dear.”

This story was published on March 5, 2025.