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Posted
1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Just like Nancy Mace is a really rough looking 47 (she's probably younger) in the bikini pic somebody posted in my "Mace" thread.

•Note to self, do NOT enter Nancy Mace thread•

Posted
12 minutes ago, RPM said:

DOD seems to be doing great...

 

fuck me, ukraine just wiped out the russian black sea fleet with little more than drone boats. i think the us navy is in good shape 

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Posted

helicopters, planes, now ships! tsk tsk Trump, Hegspeth and Real World bro are just terrible at this. totally their fault, they are in charge. /worksfortheotherside

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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, mchookem said:

helicopters, planes, now ships! tsk tsk Trump, Hegspeth and Real World bro are just terrible at this. totally their fault, they are in charge. /worksfortheotherside

yeah, holy shit, this is the first month - hell, only 3 weeks in!!!. Military chopper flies right the fuck into a commercial liner. At least two fighter planes down and we're not even at war. Now a fucking aircraft carrier collides with a freight ship. As someone else asked, where the fuck was the protection flotilla? are we actually fucking safe right now? I don't feel it. 

3 minutes ago, RPM said:

Waiting for Space disaster to fill out my bingo card.

oh shit, this hasn't even occurred to me. here's my prediction: spacex vessel flies straight into a neighborhood. 

Edited by Longhorn_Fan68
Posted

Now the radical republicans are getting upset that people aren’t “respecting” the name change of the Gulf of Mexico and calling it whatever turnip wants because of his executive order. 

Sounds like the rise of the woke right to me.

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Posted
4 hours ago, Beantown Express 2.0 said:

So now that Trump is in charge who gets honored next year at the Kennedy Center lifetime awards?  Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and some Christian rock band?

Village People.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

LEE GREENWOOD

 

 

 

I am shocked to learn this new board then turned around and voted Trump as the Chairman.

Inspired choice.

Posted
21 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 55 years,” says Beth Pratt, a regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, who lives near Yosemite and is working on a book called “Yosemite Wildlife.” “Just to want to gut the Park Service? I don’t understand it.”

Well, you see, we elected a bunch of fucking evil and incompetent people who are now running our country, along with a real life super villain. 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Now the radical republicans are getting upset that people aren’t “respecting” the name change of the Gulf of Mexico and calling it whatever turnip wants because of his executive order. 

Sounds like the rise of the woke right to me.

Don't forget about the re-re-naming of Fort Bragg because they found a soldier named Bragg on our side.

Posted
1 minute ago, Red Five said:

Well, you see, we elected a bunch of fucking evil and incompetent people who are now running our country, along with a real life super villain. 

Days, nay hours away from transferring the National Treasury to TrumpCoin.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Now the radical republicans are getting upset that people aren’t “respecting” the name change of the Gulf of Mexico and calling it whatever turnip wants because of his executive order. 

Sounds like the rise of the woke right to me.

But it was assigned Gulf of Mexico at birth.

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Posted
27 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-in-chaos-20163260.php

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

Staffing challenges

The trouble began Jan. 20, when Trump issued an executive order that froze hiring across the federal government. Three days later, thousands of employees in the process of onboarding for federal agencies, including the Park Service, received emails stating that their job offers had been rescinded.

They included rangers and fee technicians — the people who collect money at park entrances and campgrounds — who were two months into the hiring process. The move created chaos at Yosemite, particularly because it seemed that the hiring freeze had been incorrectly applied to the seasonal staff.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the government’s human resources agency, issued a memorandum outlining exemptions to the hiring freeze. It specifically noted that “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads” should not be included.

But as days ticked by, no corrective measures were taken. Then, on Jan. 28, the Trump administration sent emails offering resignation options to millions of federal employees, including those who work at Yosemite. The emails also discussed future cuts to the federal workforce, warning that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity.”

The administration has also been collecting the names of all federal employees within their probationary period (which includes anyone hired less than a year ago), it said in the email, and reminded agency leaders that these newest employees are the easiest to terminate.

On Feb. 6, the Trump administration sent yet another round of emails rescinding job offers to still more seasonal Park Service employees, including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs — all positions explicitly related to public safety, which were also supposedly exempt from Trump’s Jan. 20 order for a hiring freeze. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 11 that some rescinded job offers were eventually re-extended to law enforcement rangers and public safety dispatchers, but how many is unclear.

Yosemite was granted an exception to hire “a couple” of communication dispatchers for a round-the-clock operation that directs emergency and general park radio traffic, according to the former superintendent Neubacher, who remains connected to the Yosemite community. The team had been down to just three employees, he added, but he wasn’t aware of any law enforcement or emergency service job offers being re-extended.

There’s a lot of fear right now, but nobody even knows who is making these decisions anymore,” said one Yosemite employee who requested anonymity to protect their job, which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.

There has been some pushback to the Trump administration’s plans. A federal judge temporarily blocked the White House from implementing the buyouts for federal employees; labor unions have argued that Trump does not have the authority to offer buyouts to all federal employees, which they say must be authorized by Congress given the representative body’s power of the purse. But on Feb. 12, the judge decided that the resignation program could move forward.

 

SFGATE reached out to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and Yosemite National Park for comment on the impending chaos. Yosemite officials didn’t respond, but a spokesperson for the Interior Department emailed a statement.

“The Department of the Interior is implementing President Donald J. Trump’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce,” it read. “The order allows for exemptions for certain positions, including those related to public safety. The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners.”

Officials also told KBZK-TV in an emailed statement, “The Park Service is assessing its most critical hiring needs for the coming season.”

Meanwhile, millions of visitors are in a holding pattern about whether they’ll need a reservation to visit the park during the busiest months of the year.

Yosemite with no reservations

For the past five years, Yosemite officials have been testing out possibilities for a permanent reservation system that would mitigate wait times at the entrance, traffic throughout the park, crowding in parking lots, damage to park resources, threats to staff and visitor safety, and strain on park facilities.

The pilot programs were not without controversy. Visitors who didn’t have the luxury of planning ahead or purchasing expensive lodging or tours within the park found themselves unable to enter during peak hours, and hotel owners in gateway towns struggled when their guests couldn’t get into the park. In some cases, they canceled their trips, and in others, guests checked out of their hotels immediately and demanded refunds.

But anyone who has waited hours to enter Yosemite on a crowded summer day, only to get stuck in gridlocked traffic inside the park and not be able to find a parking spot, can understand the need for limits on visitation. Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the United States, with between 3 million and 5 million visitors showing up each year.

Park officials had hoped to announce a permanent reservation system early this year, but that’s now on hold while the Trump administration reviews the plan, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Yosemite’s website states that more information about reservations will become available after Feb. 26. “We recognize the importance of providing clarity on that system as soon as possible to accommodate peak summer season travel planning,” a statement from the park reads. “We are grateful for the robust public engagement in this process to shape an improved and sustainable visitor experience.”

The Yosemite employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity says reservations are seeming unlikely. “Those of us left are being told to be prepared for chaos and having to cover,” the employee said.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Yosemite is forced to operate with a skeleton staff and no restrictions on visitors. In December 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and Congress reached an impasse over funding to build a wall on the Mexican border. A partial government shutdown left many federal employees, including most of the park’s staff, furloughed. Yosemite remained open through the 35-day shutdown and staff from Aramark, the private company that runs the park’s concessions, stayed on the job.

Without park rangers to guide and monitor their behavior, visitors left garbage at scenic viewpoints, brought dogs to ecologically sensitive meadows and other areas where pets were prohibited, drove over curbs, and even defecated on the ground next to locked restrooms, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. When temperatures dropped, the garbage and human waste froze to the ground.

“The trash cans weren’t getting emptied. There was so much garbage, and everything was getting overrun,” remembers Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and founder of Yosemite Facelift, a yearly volunteer trash cleanup.

Yager predicts that if the park has no reservation system during peak periods this spring and summer, it’ll be “kind of a free-for-all.” Without enough law enforcement rangers, people will start moving rocks to create extra parking spots and driving around meadows or camping in them, he predicts. One of the biggest problems, though, is the potential impact on bears.  

“There’s nothing worse for the bears than to be eating people food,” Yager says. “Doesn’t matter what kind of garbage or food you leave out, they’ll eat it, and it’s bad for them. They eat it packaging and all.” Bears that develop a taste for human food may also start breaking into cars, Yager adds, and will teach other bears how to do it. When bears are desensitized to humans, they also tend to find themselves in mortal danger.

Yager knows that area business owners angling for no reservations will be pleased to have more people coming through and spending money. But the park will pay the price. “Where is the balance between taking care of the park and overusing the park?” he asks.

The future of Yosemite

The idea of leaving one of the nation’s most beloved parks with few guardians and no limits on access has raised alarms.

Last week, California Sen. Alex Padilla and 21 other senators sent a letter to newly installed Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking him to reconsider deep staffing cuts to the national parks and raising awareness of what’s at stake.

“Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable,” the senators wrote.

In response to an inquiry from SFGATE, Padilla specifically addressed the issues at Yosemite. “The time to prepare for peak season at Yosemite is now, which is why I’m also pushing back on the Administration’s delays to finalize a durable reservation system that’s critical for ensuring the world-class visitor experience that people expect when they visit Yosemite,” Padilla wrote in an emailed statement. 

All around California, conservationists, nonprofit leaders and other Yosemite enthusiasts are having these same dire conversations.   

For Barton, the founder of the tour operator near Yosemite, the uncertainty surrounding the management of the park is agonizing. “We’re all super worked up over here!” she wrote SFGATE in a text message.

“The resignation of the superintendent, delays in critical visitor management systems, and the loss of experienced staff threaten not only the park’s ecological integrity but also the quality of visitor experiences and the continuity of vital scientific research,” Barton wrote. “Without strong leadership and consistent protections, we risk undoing decades of progress in conservation, accessibility and responsible stewardship.”

Mark Rose, the Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, worries things could get even worse with buyouts and potential layoffs looming.

“If any buyouts are taken, positions critical for human health and safety such as maintaining Yosemite’s wastewater treatment plants and high voltage lines could be left vacant,” Rose wrote in an email to SFGATE.

On top of all that, neglecting to implement a reservation system would cause hourslong traffic jams and closures in Yosemite Valley, according to Rose. Some of the most loved places around the park would be virtually inaccessible because of a lack of parking availability. “We’re counting on Yosemite and national park leadership to bring back the popular day use reservation system this summer,” he wrote.

Neubacher can’t see how the park could function without hiring hundreds of seasonal workers and having a visitor management plan in place. Yet the former Yosemite superintendent is concerned that even if federal officials eventually decide to reissue job offers to Yosemite seasonal workers, it’ll be too late. Somewhere between 350 and 400 seasonal employees are onboarded every February and March, Neubacher said, which means even if new employment offers went out tomorrow, park operations would still be behind schedule. 

There’s also the fact that recruiting enough workers is difficult in the first place. The jobs don’t pay much, and they often don’t come with housing or health insurance. Workers who do find their way into seasonal employment in Yosemite put up with the downsides of the job because they care deeply about the park and want to assist with its upkeep. But many can’t afford to sit around for months waiting to find out if they’ll have jobs in Yosemite this summer.

“From my years at Yosemite, I believe the park will have to stop specific functions (like no Half Dome cables can be installed) and close park areas,” Neubacher wrote in an email. “There is no way they can accommodate current visitation levels without additional staff support during the peak season.”

He worries that park employees and management will be put in an impossible position. 

“This is one of America's greatest treasures,” he wrote, “and these reckless actions jeopardize its future.”

 

Pretty sure a guy who can not pronounce Yosemite doesn't give two shits about Yosemite.

 

Posted
1 minute ago, yoladu said:

Pretty sure a guy who can not pronounce Yosemite doesn't give two shits about Yosemite.

 

My gawd. I'd forgotten all about that one.

Posted
1 minute ago, bolverk said:

But it was assigned Gulf of Mexico at birth.

It's amazing to me that they're demanding respect for a renamed body of water, but those people over there who want to be called whatever they want to be called, no, fuck them.

The god damned ocean has more rights than women and trans people.

 

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Pancho said:

Now the radical republicans are getting upset that people aren’t “respecting” the name change of the Gulf of Mexico and calling it whatever turnip wants because of his executive order. 

Sounds like the rise of the woke right to me.

Good point. Does Gulf of Mexico trigger these betas? Now we have to change identities of bodies of waters to appease a bunch of snowflakes? 

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Posted
33 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-in-chaos-20163260.php

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Staffing challenges

The trouble began Jan. 20, when Trump issued an executive order that froze hiring across the federal government. Three days later, thousands of employees in the process of onboarding for federal agencies, including the Park Service, received emails stating that their job offers had been rescinded.

They included rangers and fee technicians — the people who collect money at park entrances and campgrounds — who were two months into the hiring process. The move created chaos at Yosemite, particularly because it seemed that the hiring freeze had been incorrectly applied to the seasonal staff.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the government’s human resources agency, issued a memorandum outlining exemptions to the hiring freeze. It specifically noted that “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads” should not be included.

But as days ticked by, no corrective measures were taken. Then, on Jan. 28, the Trump administration sent emails offering resignation options to millions of federal employees, including those who work at Yosemite. The emails also discussed future cuts to the federal workforce, warning that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity.”

The administration has also been collecting the names of all federal employees within their probationary period (which includes anyone hired less than a year ago), it said in the email, and reminded agency leaders that these newest employees are the easiest to terminate.

On Feb. 6, the Trump administration sent yet another round of emails rescinding job offers to still more seasonal Park Service employees, including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs — all positions explicitly related to public safety, which were also supposedly exempt from Trump’s Jan. 20 order for a hiring freeze. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 11 that some rescinded job offers were eventually re-extended to law enforcement rangers and public safety dispatchers, but how many is unclear.

Yosemite was granted an exception to hire “a couple” of communication dispatchers for a round-the-clock operation that directs emergency and general park radio traffic, according to the former superintendent Neubacher, who remains connected to the Yosemite community. The team had been down to just three employees, he added, but he wasn’t aware of any law enforcement or emergency service job offers being re-extended.

There’s a lot of fear right now, but nobody even knows who is making these decisions anymore,” said one Yosemite employee who requested anonymity to protect their job, which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.

There has been some pushback to the Trump administration’s plans. A federal judge temporarily blocked the White House from implementing the buyouts for federal employees; labor unions have argued that Trump does not have the authority to offer buyouts to all federal employees, which they say must be authorized by Congress given the representative body’s power of the purse. But on Feb. 12, the judge decided that the resignation program could move forward.

 

SFGATE reached out to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and Yosemite National Park for comment on the impending chaos. Yosemite officials didn’t respond, but a spokesperson for the Interior Department emailed a statement.

“The Department of the Interior is implementing President Donald J. Trump’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce,” it read. “The order allows for exemptions for certain positions, including those related to public safety. The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners.”

Officials also told KBZK-TV in an emailed statement, “The Park Service is assessing its most critical hiring needs for the coming season.”

Meanwhile, millions of visitors are in a holding pattern about whether they’ll need a reservation to visit the park during the busiest months of the year.

Yosemite with no reservations

For the past five years, Yosemite officials have been testing out possibilities for a permanent reservation system that would mitigate wait times at the entrance, traffic throughout the park, crowding in parking lots, damage to park resources, threats to staff and visitor safety, and strain on park facilities.

The pilot programs were not without controversy. Visitors who didn’t have the luxury of planning ahead or purchasing expensive lodging or tours within the park found themselves unable to enter during peak hours, and hotel owners in gateway towns struggled when their guests couldn’t get into the park. In some cases, they canceled their trips, and in others, guests checked out of their hotels immediately and demanded refunds.

But anyone who has waited hours to enter Yosemite on a crowded summer day, only to get stuck in gridlocked traffic inside the park and not be able to find a parking spot, can understand the need for limits on visitation. Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the United States, with between 3 million and 5 million visitors showing up each year.

Park officials had hoped to announce a permanent reservation system early this year, but that’s now on hold while the Trump administration reviews the plan, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Yosemite’s website states that more information about reservations will become available after Feb. 26. “We recognize the importance of providing clarity on that system as soon as possible to accommodate peak summer season travel planning,” a statement from the park reads. “We are grateful for the robust public engagement in this process to shape an improved and sustainable visitor experience.”

The Yosemite employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity says reservations are seeming unlikely. “Those of us left are being told to be prepared for chaos and having to cover,” the employee said.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Yosemite is forced to operate with a skeleton staff and no restrictions on visitors. In December 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and Congress reached an impasse over funding to build a wall on the Mexican border. A partial government shutdown left many federal employees, including most of the park’s staff, furloughed. Yosemite remained open through the 35-day shutdown and staff from Aramark, the private company that runs the park’s concessions, stayed on the job.

Without park rangers to guide and monitor their behavior, visitors left garbage at scenic viewpoints, brought dogs to ecologically sensitive meadows and other areas where pets were prohibited, drove over curbs, and even defecated on the ground next to locked restrooms, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. When temperatures dropped, the garbage and human waste froze to the ground.

“The trash cans weren’t getting emptied. There was so much garbage, and everything was getting overrun,” remembers Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and founder of Yosemite Facelift, a yearly volunteer trash cleanup.

Yager predicts that if the park has no reservation system during peak periods this spring and summer, it’ll be “kind of a free-for-all.” Without enough law enforcement rangers, people will start moving rocks to create extra parking spots and driving around meadows or camping in them, he predicts. One of the biggest problems, though, is the potential impact on bears.  

“There’s nothing worse for the bears than to be eating people food,” Yager says. “Doesn’t matter what kind of garbage or food you leave out, they’ll eat it, and it’s bad for them. They eat it packaging and all.” Bears that develop a taste for human food may also start breaking into cars, Yager adds, and will teach other bears how to do it. When bears are desensitized to humans, they also tend to find themselves in mortal danger.

Yager knows that area business owners angling for no reservations will be pleased to have more people coming through and spending money. But the park will pay the price. “Where is the balance between taking care of the park and overusing the park?” he asks.

The future of Yosemite

The idea of leaving one of the nation’s most beloved parks with few guardians and no limits on access has raised alarms.

Last week, California Sen. Alex Padilla and 21 other senators sent a letter to newly installed Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking him to reconsider deep staffing cuts to the national parks and raising awareness of what’s at stake.

“Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable,” the senators wrote.

In response to an inquiry from SFGATE, Padilla specifically addressed the issues at Yosemite. “The time to prepare for peak season at Yosemite is now, which is why I’m also pushing back on the Administration’s delays to finalize a durable reservation system that’s critical for ensuring the world-class visitor experience that people expect when they visit Yosemite,” Padilla wrote in an emailed statement. 

All around California, conservationists, nonprofit leaders and other Yosemite enthusiasts are having these same dire conversations.   

For Barton, the founder of the tour operator near Yosemite, the uncertainty surrounding the management of the park is agonizing. “We’re all super worked up over here!” she wrote SFGATE in a text message.

“The resignation of the superintendent, delays in critical visitor management systems, and the loss of experienced staff threaten not only the park’s ecological integrity but also the quality of visitor experiences and the continuity of vital scientific research,” Barton wrote. “Without strong leadership and consistent protections, we risk undoing decades of progress in conservation, accessibility and responsible stewardship.”

Mark Rose, the Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, worries things could get even worse with buyouts and potential layoffs looming.

“If any buyouts are taken, positions critical for human health and safety such as maintaining Yosemite’s wastewater treatment plants and high voltage lines could be left vacant,” Rose wrote in an email to SFGATE.

On top of all that, neglecting to implement a reservation system would cause hourslong traffic jams and closures in Yosemite Valley, according to Rose. Some of the most loved places around the park would be virtually inaccessible because of a lack of parking availability. “We’re counting on Yosemite and national park leadership to bring back the popular day use reservation system this summer,” he wrote.

Neubacher can’t see how the park could function without hiring hundreds of seasonal workers and having a visitor management plan in place. Yet the former Yosemite superintendent is concerned that even if federal officials eventually decide to reissue job offers to Yosemite seasonal workers, it’ll be too late. Somewhere between 350 and 400 seasonal employees are onboarded every February and March, Neubacher said, which means even if new employment offers went out tomorrow, park operations would still be behind schedule. 

There’s also the fact that recruiting enough workers is difficult in the first place. The jobs don’t pay much, and they often don’t come with housing or health insurance. Workers who do find their way into seasonal employment in Yosemite put up with the downsides of the job because they care deeply about the park and want to assist with its upkeep. But many can’t afford to sit around for months waiting to find out if they’ll have jobs in Yosemite this summer.

“From my years at Yosemite, I believe the park will have to stop specific functions (like no Half Dome cables can be installed) and close park areas,” Neubacher wrote in an email. “There is no way they can accommodate current visitation levels without additional staff support during the peak season.”

He worries that park employees and management will be put in an impossible position. 

“This is one of America's greatest treasures,” he wrote, “and these reckless actions jeopardize its future.”

 

 

trump destroys everything he touches 

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Posted
34 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-in-chaos-20163260.php

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

Staffing challenges

The trouble began Jan. 20, when Trump issued an executive order that froze hiring across the federal government. Three days later, thousands of employees in the process of onboarding for federal agencies, including the Park Service, received emails stating that their job offers had been rescinded.

They included rangers and fee technicians — the people who collect money at park entrances and campgrounds — who were two months into the hiring process. The move created chaos at Yosemite, particularly because it seemed that the hiring freeze had been incorrectly applied to the seasonal staff.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the government’s human resources agency, issued a memorandum outlining exemptions to the hiring freeze. It specifically noted that “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads” should not be included.

But as days ticked by, no corrective measures were taken. Then, on Jan. 28, the Trump administration sent emails offering resignation options to millions of federal employees, including those who work at Yosemite. The emails also discussed future cuts to the federal workforce, warning that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity.”

The administration has also been collecting the names of all federal employees within their probationary period (which includes anyone hired less than a year ago), it said in the email, and reminded agency leaders that these newest employees are the easiest to terminate.

On Feb. 6, the Trump administration sent yet another round of emails rescinding job offers to still more seasonal Park Service employees, including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs — all positions explicitly related to public safety, which were also supposedly exempt from Trump’s Jan. 20 order for a hiring freeze. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 11 that some rescinded job offers were eventually re-extended to law enforcement rangers and public safety dispatchers, but how many is unclear.

Yosemite was granted an exception to hire “a couple” of communication dispatchers for a round-the-clock operation that directs emergency and general park radio traffic, according to the former superintendent Neubacher, who remains connected to the Yosemite community. The team had been down to just three employees, he added, but he wasn’t aware of any law enforcement or emergency service job offers being re-extended.

There’s a lot of fear right now, but nobody even knows who is making these decisions anymore,” said one Yosemite employee who requested anonymity to protect their job, which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.

There has been some pushback to the Trump administration’s plans. A federal judge temporarily blocked the White House from implementing the buyouts for federal employees; labor unions have argued that Trump does not have the authority to offer buyouts to all federal employees, which they say must be authorized by Congress given the representative body’s power of the purse. But on Feb. 12, the judge decided that the resignation program could move forward.

 

SFGATE reached out to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and Yosemite National Park for comment on the impending chaos. Yosemite officials didn’t respond, but a spokesperson for the Interior Department emailed a statement.

“The Department of the Interior is implementing President Donald J. Trump’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce,” it read. “The order allows for exemptions for certain positions, including those related to public safety. The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners.”

Officials also told KBZK-TV in an emailed statement, “The Park Service is assessing its most critical hiring needs for the coming season.”

Meanwhile, millions of visitors are in a holding pattern about whether they’ll need a reservation to visit the park during the busiest months of the year.

Yosemite with no reservations

For the past five years, Yosemite officials have been testing out possibilities for a permanent reservation system that would mitigate wait times at the entrance, traffic throughout the park, crowding in parking lots, damage to park resources, threats to staff and visitor safety, and strain on park facilities.

The pilot programs were not without controversy. Visitors who didn’t have the luxury of planning ahead or purchasing expensive lodging or tours within the park found themselves unable to enter during peak hours, and hotel owners in gateway towns struggled when their guests couldn’t get into the park. In some cases, they canceled their trips, and in others, guests checked out of their hotels immediately and demanded refunds.

But anyone who has waited hours to enter Yosemite on a crowded summer day, only to get stuck in gridlocked traffic inside the park and not be able to find a parking spot, can understand the need for limits on visitation. Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the United States, with between 3 million and 5 million visitors showing up each year.

Park officials had hoped to announce a permanent reservation system early this year, but that’s now on hold while the Trump administration reviews the plan, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Yosemite’s website states that more information about reservations will become available after Feb. 26. “We recognize the importance of providing clarity on that system as soon as possible to accommodate peak summer season travel planning,” a statement from the park reads. “We are grateful for the robust public engagement in this process to shape an improved and sustainable visitor experience.”

The Yosemite employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity says reservations are seeming unlikely. “Those of us left are being told to be prepared for chaos and having to cover,” the employee said.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Yosemite is forced to operate with a skeleton staff and no restrictions on visitors. In December 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and Congress reached an impasse over funding to build a wall on the Mexican border. A partial government shutdown left many federal employees, including most of the park’s staff, furloughed. Yosemite remained open through the 35-day shutdown and staff from Aramark, the private company that runs the park’s concessions, stayed on the job.

Without park rangers to guide and monitor their behavior, visitors left garbage at scenic viewpoints, brought dogs to ecologically sensitive meadows and other areas where pets were prohibited, drove over curbs, and even defecated on the ground next to locked restrooms, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. When temperatures dropped, the garbage and human waste froze to the ground.

“The trash cans weren’t getting emptied. There was so much garbage, and everything was getting overrun,” remembers Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and founder of Yosemite Facelift, a yearly volunteer trash cleanup.

Yager predicts that if the park has no reservation system during peak periods this spring and summer, it’ll be “kind of a free-for-all.” Without enough law enforcement rangers, people will start moving rocks to create extra parking spots and driving around meadows or camping in them, he predicts. One of the biggest problems, though, is the potential impact on bears.  

“There’s nothing worse for the bears than to be eating people food,” Yager says. “Doesn’t matter what kind of garbage or food you leave out, they’ll eat it, and it’s bad for them. They eat it packaging and all.” Bears that develop a taste for human food may also start breaking into cars, Yager adds, and will teach other bears how to do it. When bears are desensitized to humans, they also tend to find themselves in mortal danger.

Yager knows that area business owners angling for no reservations will be pleased to have more people coming through and spending money. But the park will pay the price. “Where is the balance between taking care of the park and overusing the park?” he asks.

The future of Yosemite

The idea of leaving one of the nation’s most beloved parks with few guardians and no limits on access has raised alarms.

Last week, California Sen. Alex Padilla and 21 other senators sent a letter to newly installed Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking him to reconsider deep staffing cuts to the national parks and raising awareness of what’s at stake.

“Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable,” the senators wrote.

In response to an inquiry from SFGATE, Padilla specifically addressed the issues at Yosemite. “The time to prepare for peak season at Yosemite is now, which is why I’m also pushing back on the Administration’s delays to finalize a durable reservation system that’s critical for ensuring the world-class visitor experience that people expect when they visit Yosemite,” Padilla wrote in an emailed statement. 

All around California, conservationists, nonprofit leaders and other Yosemite enthusiasts are having these same dire conversations.   

For Barton, the founder of the tour operator near Yosemite, the uncertainty surrounding the management of the park is agonizing. “We’re all super worked up over here!” she wrote SFGATE in a text message.

“The resignation of the superintendent, delays in critical visitor management systems, and the loss of experienced staff threaten not only the park’s ecological integrity but also the quality of visitor experiences and the continuity of vital scientific research,” Barton wrote. “Without strong leadership and consistent protections, we risk undoing decades of progress in conservation, accessibility and responsible stewardship.”

Mark Rose, the Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, worries things could get even worse with buyouts and potential layoffs looming.

“If any buyouts are taken, positions critical for human health and safety such as maintaining Yosemite’s wastewater treatment plants and high voltage lines could be left vacant,” Rose wrote in an email to SFGATE.

On top of all that, neglecting to implement a reservation system would cause hourslong traffic jams and closures in Yosemite Valley, according to Rose. Some of the most loved places around the park would be virtually inaccessible because of a lack of parking availability. “We’re counting on Yosemite and national park leadership to bring back the popular day use reservation system this summer,” he wrote.

Neubacher can’t see how the park could function without hiring hundreds of seasonal workers and having a visitor management plan in place. Yet the former Yosemite superintendent is concerned that even if federal officials eventually decide to reissue job offers to Yosemite seasonal workers, it’ll be too late. Somewhere between 350 and 400 seasonal employees are onboarded every February and March, Neubacher said, which means even if new employment offers went out tomorrow, park operations would still be behind schedule. 

There’s also the fact that recruiting enough workers is difficult in the first place. The jobs don’t pay much, and they often don’t come with housing or health insurance. Workers who do find their way into seasonal employment in Yosemite put up with the downsides of the job because they care deeply about the park and want to assist with its upkeep. But many can’t afford to sit around for months waiting to find out if they’ll have jobs in Yosemite this summer.

“From my years at Yosemite, I believe the park will have to stop specific functions (like no Half Dome cables can be installed) and close park areas,” Neubacher wrote in an email. “There is no way they can accommodate current visitation levels without additional staff support during the peak season.”

He worries that park employees and management will be put in an impossible position. 

“This is one of America's greatest treasures,” he wrote, “and these reckless actions jeopardize its future.”

 

Pearls before swine.  

Posted
1 minute ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Good point. Does Gulf of Mexico trigger these betas? Now we have to change identities of bodies of waters to appease a bunch of snowflakes? 

God damned right we do. What's this shit all about? baja.thumb.jpg.9be93ff38b619fa170e0e4c2350539e5.jpg

Posted
1 minute ago, Red Five said:

So if Trump decides the Pacific Ocean should be called TrumpWater, we would all be expected to start calling it that?

 

There’s enough garbage in the Pacific that I actually might start calling it that if he changed the name.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 2
Posted
1 minute ago, Pancho said:

 

There’s enough garbage in the Pacific that I actually might start calling it that if he changed the name.

call the giant roaming pile "Pee Tape Island"

Posted
2 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

You know Putin has some real shit to hang over Dotard.  Trump is so blatantly slobbing Putin's knob.

We knew this before.  Right about here...

GettyImages-1000209212-e1531765127745.jp

Posted
19 minutes ago, Red Five said:

So if Trump decides the Pacific Ocean should be called TrumpWater, we would all be expected to start calling it that?

Be prepared for Town Lake to be re-named Trump Lake.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Posted
19 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

You know Putin has some real shit to hang over Dotard.  Trump is so blatantly slobbing Putin's knob.

I used to think this is the case.  But I don't think he does.  I think dotard is just infatuated w/ the way Putin has made himself dictator. 

Plus, what the fuck could he have that hasn't already been thought or known about The Idiot.  Hell, Putin could release video of trump sucking Putin's dick and I don't think it would make a dent in the cult. 

Posted
2 hours ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Captain of that carrier ship will probably get a medal or promotion. 

He is actually a good dude.  I know him but I haven't seen him in years.  He is a classmate of mine.  

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
11 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

I used to think this is the case.  But I don't think he does.  I think dotard is just infatuated w/ the way Putin has made himself dictator. 

Plus, what the fuck could he have that hasn't already been thought or known about The Idiot.  Hell, Putin could release video of trump sucking Putin's dick and I don't think it would make a dent in the cult. 

So Putin could shoot him in the face in Time Square?

Posted (edited)
58 minutes ago, bolverk said:

But it was assigned Gulf of Mexico at birth.

His mama call it Gulf of Mexico, imma call it Gulf of Mexico.

Edited by 'stache
  • Haha 1
Posted
15 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Be prepared for Town Lake to be re-named Trump Lake.

I can't bring myself to call it Lady Bird Lake.

I have become like the old codgers i'd run into in the 80s who used to call MLK Blvd. 19th Street

Posted
15 minutes ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

I used to think this is the case.  But I don't think he does.  I think dotard is just infatuated w/ the way Putin has made himself dictator. 

Plus, what the fuck could he have that hasn't already been thought or known about The Idiot.  Hell, Putin could release video of trump sucking Putin's dick and I don't think it would make a dent in the cult. 

This argument has a lot of merit.  It would make sense if Putin had something on tfg.  But in this timeline, it makes more sense if tfg is just acting like a dick in general because he's generally just a dick.  

Posted
Just now, yoladu said:

I can't bring myself to call it Lady Bird Lake.

I have become like the old codgers i'd run into in the 80s who used to call MLK Blvd. 19th Street

Same.  And it ain't like Lady Bird Johnson wasn't worthy of the recognition.  She was.  Old habits though.  

Posted (edited)
1 minute ago, South Austin said:

You mean racists?

i used to think that, but does me calling it Town Lake make me a Lady Bird Johnson hater?

old habits die hard.

Edited by yoladu
Posted
Just now, That Guy said:

Literally or figuratively? I don’t know where this is going. 

Physically she was a smallish woman. But don’t let those smiles in the old photos fool you. 

Posted
1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-national-park-in-chaos-20163260.php

 

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Staffing challenges

The trouble began Jan. 20, when Trump issued an executive order that froze hiring across the federal government. Three days later, thousands of employees in the process of onboarding for federal agencies, including the Park Service, received emails stating that their job offers had been rescinded.

They included rangers and fee technicians — the people who collect money at park entrances and campgrounds — who were two months into the hiring process. The move created chaos at Yosemite, particularly because it seemed that the hiring freeze had been incorrectly applied to the seasonal staff.

On Jan. 20, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the government’s human resources agency, issued a memorandum outlining exemptions to the hiring freeze. It specifically noted that “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads” should not be included.

But as days ticked by, no corrective measures were taken. Then, on Jan. 28, the Trump administration sent emails offering resignation options to millions of federal employees, including those who work at Yosemite. The emails also discussed future cuts to the federal workforce, warning that “we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity.”

The administration has also been collecting the names of all federal employees within their probationary period (which includes anyone hired less than a year ago), it said in the email, and reminded agency leaders that these newest employees are the easiest to terminate.

On Feb. 6, the Trump administration sent yet another round of emails rescinding job offers to still more seasonal Park Service employees, including law enforcement rangers, wildland firefighters and EMTs — all positions explicitly related to public safety, which were also supposedly exempt from Trump’s Jan. 20 order for a hiring freeze. The Washington Post reported on Feb. 11 that some rescinded job offers were eventually re-extended to law enforcement rangers and public safety dispatchers, but how many is unclear.

Yosemite was granted an exception to hire “a couple” of communication dispatchers for a round-the-clock operation that directs emergency and general park radio traffic, according to the former superintendent Neubacher, who remains connected to the Yosemite community. The team had been down to just three employees, he added, but he wasn’t aware of any law enforcement or emergency service job offers being re-extended.

There’s a lot of fear right now, but nobody even knows who is making these decisions anymore,” said one Yosemite employee who requested anonymity to protect their job, which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy.

There has been some pushback to the Trump administration’s plans. A federal judge temporarily blocked the White House from implementing the buyouts for federal employees; labor unions have argued that Trump does not have the authority to offer buyouts to all federal employees, which they say must be authorized by Congress given the representative body’s power of the purse. But on Feb. 12, the judge decided that the resignation program could move forward.

 

SFGATE reached out to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, and Yosemite National Park for comment on the impending chaos. Yosemite officials didn’t respond, but a spokesperson for the Interior Department emailed a statement.

“The Department of the Interior is implementing President Donald J. Trump’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce,” it read. “The order allows for exemptions for certain positions, including those related to public safety. The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners.”

Officials also told KBZK-TV in an emailed statement, “The Park Service is assessing its most critical hiring needs for the coming season.”

Meanwhile, millions of visitors are in a holding pattern about whether they’ll need a reservation to visit the park during the busiest months of the year.

Yosemite with no reservations

For the past five years, Yosemite officials have been testing out possibilities for a permanent reservation system that would mitigate wait times at the entrance, traffic throughout the park, crowding in parking lots, damage to park resources, threats to staff and visitor safety, and strain on park facilities.

The pilot programs were not without controversy. Visitors who didn’t have the luxury of planning ahead or purchasing expensive lodging or tours within the park found themselves unable to enter during peak hours, and hotel owners in gateway towns struggled when their guests couldn’t get into the park. In some cases, they canceled their trips, and in others, guests checked out of their hotels immediately and demanded refunds.

But anyone who has waited hours to enter Yosemite on a crowded summer day, only to get stuck in gridlocked traffic inside the park and not be able to find a parking spot, can understand the need for limits on visitation. Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the United States, with between 3 million and 5 million visitors showing up each year.

Park officials had hoped to announce a permanent reservation system early this year, but that’s now on hold while the Trump administration reviews the plan, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Yosemite’s website states that more information about reservations will become available after Feb. 26. “We recognize the importance of providing clarity on that system as soon as possible to accommodate peak summer season travel planning,” a statement from the park reads. “We are grateful for the robust public engagement in this process to shape an improved and sustainable visitor experience.”

The Yosemite employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity says reservations are seeming unlikely. “Those of us left are being told to be prepared for chaos and having to cover,” the employee said.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Yosemite is forced to operate with a skeleton staff and no restrictions on visitors. In December 2018, during Trump’s first term, he and Congress reached an impasse over funding to build a wall on the Mexican border. A partial government shutdown left many federal employees, including most of the park’s staff, furloughed. Yosemite remained open through the 35-day shutdown and staff from Aramark, the private company that runs the park’s concessions, stayed on the job.

Without park rangers to guide and monitor their behavior, visitors left garbage at scenic viewpoints, brought dogs to ecologically sensitive meadows and other areas where pets were prohibited, drove over curbs, and even defecated on the ground next to locked restrooms, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. When temperatures dropped, the garbage and human waste froze to the ground.

“The trash cans weren’t getting emptied. There was so much garbage, and everything was getting overrun,” remembers Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association and founder of Yosemite Facelift, a yearly volunteer trash cleanup.

Yager predicts that if the park has no reservation system during peak periods this spring and summer, it’ll be “kind of a free-for-all.” Without enough law enforcement rangers, people will start moving rocks to create extra parking spots and driving around meadows or camping in them, he predicts. One of the biggest problems, though, is the potential impact on bears.  

“There’s nothing worse for the bears than to be eating people food,” Yager says. “Doesn’t matter what kind of garbage or food you leave out, they’ll eat it, and it’s bad for them. They eat it packaging and all.” Bears that develop a taste for human food may also start breaking into cars, Yager adds, and will teach other bears how to do it. When bears are desensitized to humans, they also tend to find themselves in mortal danger.

Yager knows that area business owners angling for no reservations will be pleased to have more people coming through and spending money. But the park will pay the price. “Where is the balance between taking care of the park and overusing the park?” he asks.

The future of Yosemite

The idea of leaving one of the nation’s most beloved parks with few guardians and no limits on access has raised alarms.

Last week, California Sen. Alex Padilla and 21 other senators sent a letter to newly installed Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, asking him to reconsider deep staffing cuts to the national parks and raising awareness of what’s at stake.

“Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable,” the senators wrote.

In response to an inquiry from SFGATE, Padilla specifically addressed the issues at Yosemite. “The time to prepare for peak season at Yosemite is now, which is why I’m also pushing back on the Administration’s delays to finalize a durable reservation system that’s critical for ensuring the world-class visitor experience that people expect when they visit Yosemite,” Padilla wrote in an emailed statement. 

All around California, conservationists, nonprofit leaders and other Yosemite enthusiasts are having these same dire conversations.   

For Barton, the founder of the tour operator near Yosemite, the uncertainty surrounding the management of the park is agonizing. “We’re all super worked up over here!” she wrote SFGATE in a text message.

“The resignation of the superintendent, delays in critical visitor management systems, and the loss of experienced staff threaten not only the park’s ecological integrity but also the quality of visitor experiences and the continuity of vital scientific research,” Barton wrote. “Without strong leadership and consistent protections, we risk undoing decades of progress in conservation, accessibility and responsible stewardship.”

Mark Rose, the Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, worries things could get even worse with buyouts and potential layoffs looming.

“If any buyouts are taken, positions critical for human health and safety such as maintaining Yosemite’s wastewater treatment plants and high voltage lines could be left vacant,” Rose wrote in an email to SFGATE.

On top of all that, neglecting to implement a reservation system would cause hourslong traffic jams and closures in Yosemite Valley, according to Rose. Some of the most loved places around the park would be virtually inaccessible because of a lack of parking availability. “We’re counting on Yosemite and national park leadership to bring back the popular day use reservation system this summer,” he wrote.

Neubacher can’t see how the park could function without hiring hundreds of seasonal workers and having a visitor management plan in place. Yet the former Yosemite superintendent is concerned that even if federal officials eventually decide to reissue job offers to Yosemite seasonal workers, it’ll be too late. Somewhere between 350 and 400 seasonal employees are onboarded every February and March, Neubacher said, which means even if new employment offers went out tomorrow, park operations would still be behind schedule. 

There’s also the fact that recruiting enough workers is difficult in the first place. The jobs don’t pay much, and they often don’t come with housing or health insurance. Workers who do find their way into seasonal employment in Yosemite put up with the downsides of the job because they care deeply about the park and want to assist with its upkeep. But many can’t afford to sit around for months waiting to find out if they’ll have jobs in Yosemite this summer.

“From my years at Yosemite, I believe the park will have to stop specific functions (like no Half Dome cables can be installed) and close park areas,” Neubacher wrote in an email. “There is no way they can accommodate current visitation levels without additional staff support during the peak season.”

He worries that park employees and management will be put in an impossible position. 

“This is one of America's greatest treasures,” he wrote, “and these reckless actions jeopardize its future.”

 

That’s so fucking frustrating. The day use and timed entry stuff is a life saver for visitors at the National parks. I can’t imagine what RMNP would have been like with no timed entry.

Posted
2 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Based on what I experienced while running errands today, I would be willing to turn a blind eye if dotard and Muskolini decided to revoke women's right to drive.

And use the self checkout. 



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