Hundreds gather at The Presidio to show their support for the national park in San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.
Esti Sanchez coordinated the march by starting a group text 48 hours prior to the event. The Presidio demonstration was part of a coordinated nationwide effort to organize protests at all 433 national park sites on March 1.
People walked from the Presidio Visitor center to Fort Mason with homemade signs in response to recent budget cuts and firings throughout the National Park Service.
Protesters cheer on honking cars, including several Teslas, as they march along the San Francisco Bay.
Many held signs criticizing recent DOGE budget cuts, lead by Elon Musk, whose stock in Tesla has earned him much of his wealth. Several Teslas’s drove past the line of protesters walking towards Fort Mason, honking their horns in support of the march.
Juniper is a Junior Park Ranger. "I don’t want the parks to be defunded because then I’ll lose my junior job."
Hundreds of people marched along the Presidio towards Fort Mason to support National Park accessibility and the rangers who help maintain the lands.
People walked with homemade signs in response to recent budget cuts and firings throughout the National Park Service.
Meg Nguyen is a climate activist with the Sunrise Movement who helped organize the Presidio protest. "I'm here for our public places that we love and for the people who protect them who are under threat. Our voices matter. And I will continue to come out day after day."
Demonstrators walked from the Presidio Visitor center to Fort Mason.
The crowd assembled at Fort Mason to hear organizers and fellow participants speeches in opposition of recent federal budget cuts to the National Parks Service.
Drew Gallant is an environmental science educator and partners with national parks. "I'm Miss National Park," he says laughing. “I get to teach the kids about the parks. I’m here fighting for them."
Christian currently works for NPS. Even though he is afraid of losing his job he said, "I'm here to show up for the natural environment. I wasn’t brought up in nature and now I get to be an environmental scientist. I'm here to take care of our earth and community and expose nature to communities that may not have access to it."
Organizers Esti Sanchez, Christian, Meg Nguyen, and Sasha hold up their sign at the end of the march and speeches. Christian and Sasha asked for their last names to be withheld in fear of retaliation since both are current employees of the NPS.
Julie Chong's husband worked for Yosemite National Park. "We care about our parks. They already needed more help and now they have even less. We are very big supporters of public lands in public hands."
Hundreds gathered Saturday afternoon at The Presidio as part of a coordinated nationwide effort to organize protests at all 433 national park sites.
Protesters marched along the Presidio towards Fort Mason to support National Park accessibility and the rangers who help maintain the lands.
Many held signs criticizing recent DOGE budget cuts lead by Elon Musk, whose stock in Tesla has earned him much of his wealth. Several Teslas’s drove past the line of protesters walking towards Fort Mason, honking their horns in support of the march.
The crowd assembled at Fort Mason to hear organizers and fellow participants speeches in opposition of recent federal budget cuts to the National Parks Service.
Several educators, previous NPS employees, and volunteers addressed the crowd.
Juniper, a Junior Park Ranger said, “I don’t want the parks to be defunded because then I’ll lose my junior job.”
Drew Gallant, an environmental science educator who partners with national parks, laughed saying "I'm Miss National Park". “I get to teach the kids about the parks. I’m here fighting for them."
Esti Sanchez coordinated the march by starting a group text 48 hours prior to the event.
Meg Nguyen, a climate activist with the sunrise movement, helped organize the Presidio protest. "I'm here for our public places that we love and for the people who protect them who are under threat. Our voices matter. And I will continue to come out day after day."
Organizers airdropped forms and zines to participants who were interested in partaking in future actions.
