To protest his unfair, unconstitutional firing, a park ranger, and friends, hung an upside down flag, a sign of distress, from Yosemite’s 3000-ft granite monolith, El Capitan (Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La) in Yosemite National Park, California, on Saturday, February 22, 2025. The act was also a protest against the thousands of federal jobs lost due to the Trump administration/Elon Musk Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts.
Yosemite Protests
Tracy Barbutes | California, United States
Photographer: Tracy Barbutes
Exhibit Title: Yosemite Protests
Location: California, United States
In February 2025, I documented an American flag that was hung upside down, signaling distress, from Yosemite’s El Capitan (Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La). It wasn’t until later that night and the following morning as the image went viral, that I began to understand what those actions, and the image, meant. Did Nate Vince, the fired park employee behind the flag protest, and his cohorts, shake people out of a collective stupor and spark a movement of resistance. I continue to document peaceful protests throughout the park.
Shortly after I photographed a distress flag hung from Yosemite’s El Capitan (Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La), I met the park employees responsible for that defiant act. Their courage motivated a nation to rise up and unify through a mutual love of public spaces. Their act, and our ensuing discussions, led me to question how I, too, might protest the draconian budget cuts to our national parks, particularly Yosemite. I am committed to documenting and sharing images of the park’s peaceful protests.
For decades, the Yosemite-Sierra Nevada region has been my spiritual and physical home. The systematic dismantling of the Park Service by this administration is negatively impacting wildlife, conservation, research, safety, park employees and their families, and the neighboring communities that rely on tourism.
The images in this series were created during multiple peaceful protests throughout the park, beginning in February, with one as recent as August 24. Through all of the budget cuts, firings, political posturing, and all of the demands for public lands to remain in public hands, I can’t help but think of the paradox of the overall situation: Yosemite, and most of our public spaces, exist on unceded Indigenous lands.
I am an independent photojournalist and fine art photographer based on Sierra Miwok lands near Yosemite National Park. My work often features wildfire, the environment, rural life and the people and landscape of the Yosemite-Sierra Nevada region. Editorial clients include Bloomberg, Reuters, High Country News, The Washington Post, etc.
Website: https://www.tracybarbutes.com/
Instagram & Threads: @tracybarbutes
Bluesky: @tracybarbutes.bsky.social
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