EASTHAM — A yellow patch of grass opposite the Lobster Shanty on Route 6 became the site of a 100-person protest on Saturday, March 1, as it was the nearest place along the highway to the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Salt Pond Visitor Center.
The protesters, and the many drivers who honked in support of them, were outraged by the mass firing of about 1,000 employees of the National Park Service (NPS) on Feb. 14, including three people who had worked for the National Seashore: archeologist Daniel Zoto, outreach ranger John Hanlon, and salt marsh ecologist Kyrsten Boswell.
Zoto and Hanlon spoke to the Independent about their termination by “cut and paste” email last week. Boswell, whose name has not been previously reported in connection with the firing, told the Independent this week that she had moved here from across the country in August to work on the Herring River Restoration Project in Wellfleet.
“I was doing salt marsh health assessments in the Gut and in Mill Creek — really all along the Herring River,” Boswell said. “We were establishing a baseline of conditions upstream and downstream of Chequessett Neck bridge.
“I was brought here because of my experience working in salt marshes and past research that I’ve done,” Boswell said. “I was able to apply that knowledge to this specific study and understand what the data means and how to deal with it.”
Like Zoto and Hanlon, Boswell was in her first 12 months in her new job, which meant she was on “probationary status.” Employees with that status, including some longtime staff who were recently promoted, have fewer protections and are easier for officials acting at the direction of Elon Musk’s so-called Dept. of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to dismiss.
Elaine Wright, 82, of Eastham was one of the first to arrive at the protest on Saturday. She said she had attended the dedication of the National Seashore in 1966 and has enjoyed swimming in the federally protected waters of the Outer Cape her whole life.
“If they’re laying off so many people, how are we going to keep the beaches open in the summer?” Wright said. “It’s a beautiful beach that needs to be protected.”
The Eastham protest was part of a nationwide “day of action” organized by a group of off-duty and terminated NPS staff called Resistance Rangers that had aimed for protests at each of the Park Service’s 433 sites on March 1.
Eastham resident Robin Huibregtse said they had searched for news about a protest at the Cape Cod National Seashore and hadn’t found any.
“There are protests happening at national parks all over the country,” Huibregtse posted to a community social media group on Friday. “I will be there at noon, and I hope others join to protect our precious National Seashore.”
By noon the next day, there were retirees, students, and families with young children gathered by the highway, along with seasonal lifeguards, trail workers, and former Park rangers. There was already a crowd when Huibregtse arrived around half past noon.
“That made me feel really good, that there’s people here who care as much as I do” about the firings of Park Service staff and the future of public lands under the Trump administration, Huibregtse said. “If anything here gets destroyed, you can’t get it back. Even if we were to tear down whatever they built, it just would never be the same.”
The sounds of cowbells, hand drums, and chants filled the air. A Tesla Cybertruck whizzed by, and the crowd booed.
“Elon Musk has got to go,” chanted one group of protesters. They waved cardboard signs with painted slogans: “Fire Musk,” “Boycott Tesla,” and “More Park Rangers, Less Billionaires.”
For Annie Bartlett of Provincetown, attending the demonstration helped rid her of a feeling “that I can’t do anything about it,” she said.
“Across the board, they’re putting down the hammer,” Bartlett said, noting that the firings of federal workers were indiscriminate. “Republicans are being fired, too.”
Bartlett said it was “appalling and horrifying” that Musk, “who’s not elected, has that much power.”
“I’m here because I care,” said Pat Lariviere, a resident of Eastham since the 1980s. “What happens here affects all of us. We can’t lose it.”
Seasonal Workers
Many people at the demonstration said they were worried about the seasonal workers who fill important positions at the Seashore in the summer.
A 90-day federal hiring freeze that was announced on President Trump’s inauguration day, Jan. 20, includes the NPS and explicitly prohibits resorting to outside contractors to fill positions.
Although the Park Service has said it still plans to hire many seasonal workers, the Boston Globe reported on March 2 that the upheaval in the agency is delaying the hiring of summer employees.
Wellfleet resident Zane Pergram, who said he has worked on ecological restoration contracts in the National Seashore, worried that services would suffer if the hiring freeze continues.
Overflowing trash cans would be an early sign of understaffing, Pergram said, but he was more worried about “trampling on some of the work that we’ve done, onto vegetation and on the dunes.”
He pointed to Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, where stairs to the beach have been washed out and not yet replaced. If the stairs are not replaced by summer, “people are just going to walk over” the dunes, he said, damaging vegetation and topsoil.
The chanting, singing, sign-waving, and honking continued for more than two hours. “This is the first time I’ve been out at a protest with such a positive reaction,” said Betsy Lebow, an educator in Wellfleet.
“I know the rangers here and how much they touch our kids’ lives,” Lebow said. “They need our support.” A nearby demonstrator gestured to a passing 18-wheeler to blow his horn, and the driver obliged to cheers from the crowd.
“Our country had two great ideas: national parks and public education,” Lebow said. “Today, I’m here for the parks.”
