The rise of the resistance hike

ESTES PARK, Colo. — Throughout the 4.2 mile Beaver Mountain Loop at Rocky Mountain National Park, hikers wind between charred pines jutting out of the verdant, flowery hillside. 

This singed timber is evidence of the East Troublesome Fire, which razed nearly 200,000 acres of land in 2020. 

Adam Auerbach, a former AmeriCorps worker and former Colorado Parks and Wildlife educator, led a group of about 20 outdoor enthusiasts through this recovering landscape as part of an “advocacy hike” — he also called it a “resistance hike” — he formed in protest of the Trump administration’s series of federal funding cuts targeting national parks and public lands.

Similar acts of resistance have taken place at other national parks. In February, a group of hikers hung an upside down American flag from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park,

Across the hike, Auerbach cited the widespread layoffs affecting park and forest employees, as well as the budget cuts affecting operations, maintenance and preservation; and potential future cuts signaled by the Trump administration.

Auerbach occasionally stopped to speak about the land around them.

“You can’t have public enjoyment tomorrow if you don’t have preservation today,” said Auerbach, speaking to the group from a picturesque overlook of the Big Thompson River. 

“We are really not seeing Parks in the forever business as they’re meant to be.”

Auerbach’s advocacy hike focused on a number of subjects, including the history of Rocky Mountain National Park, ecological lessons on the park’s montane ecosystem and tidbits on the nearby Long’s Peak, which is identifiable by its rock formation that looks like a beaver.

Underlying all of this were much more pointed arguments and criticisms against National Park Service funding and staffing cuts. The newest cuts come by way of the Trump administration’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which rescinded $267 million in planned park improvement spending. More cuts are expected (to the tune of more than $1 billion), and the administration has hinted at shrinking or removing national monument sites.

According to findings from the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Parks service is down about 24% of its permanent staff, and federal funding cuts continue to strain Colorado-specific federal lands (more than one-third of Colorado is publicly-owned land).

In February of this year, President Trump issued an executive order that slashed the federal workforce, including thousands of employees with the Forest Service and the National Parks Service. 

One hiker referred to it as the “Valentine’s Day massacre.”