Kate White and her colleagues carry hundreds of kilos of trash down from The Enchantments, a sensitive, alpine wilderness area in the state of Washington.
So far, they have welcomed over 100,000 visitors annually.
I don't know how it's going to go now. It will probably be devastating for the ecosystem in the area, and for the visitors, says White, who has been a park ranger for nine years, to BBC.
One of her most important tasks has, however, been the visitors' safety – being on hand if an accident occurs. When hikers have fallen and injured themselves, or even died in the steep terrain.
We are the first on the scene in an accident, she says.
Thousands laid off
Her job is now gone. Mass layoffs through the White House-initiated Doge, under the leadership of Elon Musk, have led to around 1,000 employees at National Park Service being fired. At US Forest Service, the agency that manages federally owned forests, 3,400 have been forced to quit.
The layoffs have stopped maintenance of national parks that annually have around 325 million visitors from around the world, as well as of national forests with 159 million annual visitors.
Long queues have formed outside Grand Canyon due to the lack of ticket controllers at entrances and exits. Similar scenes have unfolded at other national parks, and popular hiking trails have been closed.
Warning visitors
In Yosemite, California, an American flag has been hung upside down at a waterfall.
Andria Townsend, a wildlife expert who was fired via email, fully supports the protest. She is particularly worried about the future of endangered species she has worked to preserve: the fish otter and a fox specific to Sierra Nevada.
They are both doing badly, she notes.
A colleague summarizes:
The future of nature conservation feels simply very uncertain.
Visitors are warned about littering, closed trails, cancelled cabin bookings, and chaos at the entrances.
If the government doesn't change its policy, visitors must lower their expectations, says John Garder at the national parks' organization NPCA.
