Editor's note: This update cites another unofficial NPS Twitter feed, and outlines how the NPS Arrowhead logo can be used.
This national park Twitter feed ain't rogue. It might better be viewed as "the resistance."
After a former employee at Badlands National Park in South Dakota fed a short series of climate-change related tweets that were quickly taken down, a collection of active National Park Service employees has banded together to launch AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) on Twitter, a feed those behind it bill as, "The Unofficial 'Resistance' team of U.S. National Park Service. Not taxpayer subsidised! Come for rugged scenery, fossil beds, 89 million acres of landscape."
Among the initial tweets were:
Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS. You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!
All Americans should review .@NASA's Images of Change to see how climate change is affecting our planet http://climate.nasa.gov/images-of-change?id=594#594-three-gorges-dam-bri... …
We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We'll fight climate change denial
This account should not have to exist & we are sorry for any problems we are causing our colleagues. But we didn't start this. #resist
These four tweets were quickly removed from Badlands National Park's twitter feed on Tuesday.
The account quickly gained more than 440,000 followers.
As to the Badlands situation, that park's Twitter feed on Tuesday contained three climate-change related tweets and one noting the Park Service's mandate to preserve landscapes and their natural resources.
"Several tweets posted on the Badlands National Park's Twitter account today were posted by a former employee who was not currently authorized to use the park's account. The park was not told to remove the tweets but chose to do so when they realized that their account had been compromised," a Park Service official said. "At this time, National Park Service social media managers are encouraged to continue the use of Twitter to post information relating to public safety and park information, with the exception of content related to national policy issues."
Another Twitter channel with a similar bent, NatlParksUnderground (@NatParkUndrgrnd) also has surfaced. Among its initial tweets was one that said, "We encourage all agencies under the gag order of the Trump administration to go #underground, get the info out, and resist, resist, #resist."
National Park Service officials in Washington declined to comment on the two sites. However, the first might run into trouble for its use of the NPS Arrowhead logo.
Agency regulations specific that, "(U)nder no circumstances is the Arrowhead symbol to be employed in any manner which would malign or denigrate the NPS or its employees. No reproduction of the symbol is permitted which in any way changes the wording or design elements found therein. The use of the symbol on souvenirs or other items or merchandise presented for sale to the public by private enterprise operating either within or outside of areas of the National Park System will not be authorized. The symbol will not be authorized for use in a manner that would imply endorsement by the Service of a product, service, or enterprise which the Service has no authority to endorse."
Comments
YOU KEEP ON KEEPING ON ! KUDOS TO WHOEVER !
The BNP employees are to be congratulated for their principled and courageous stand to uphold the ideals and traditions of the National Park System. Hopefully the National Park Service will stand beside them in the commitment to scientific evidence and service to the owner public of our national parks. The NPS is first and foremost the servant of the PEOPLE. The current POTUS must not be permitted to undermine the parks. He is the president - not an emporer. How about a T-shirt, "BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK EMPLOYEES SUPPORTER!"
Agree or disagree with the viewpoint I can't imagine anyone in the private sector tweeting against their employer and have any expectation of keeping their job. Put yourself in the place of having employees criticize your business (or you) in their off hours. Or, what would your view be if NPS employees under Obama were tweeting how global warming was a farce, how the parks were overfunded and mismanaged? Would you keep those employees? I wouldn't nor should Trump.
Tweeting facts? Come on. Get real, Wild Places - once again, this is getting ridiculous.. If you support anti-intellectualism or stand against science, then more power to you. Then you stand in the corner of the de-evolutionists, and the anti-intellectuals that wish to shield people from truth and knowledge.
I can't take Trump seriously. I CANT - i see that guy and I can't help but think of just some cheesy reality tv show host that's now cheesing up the executive branch. Obama obviously had a much higher IQ than Trump. Obama digested knowledge, and was willing to listen to the facts. As for trumpy - well, he wants to hide or deny facts, and obviously lacks a higher level of reasoning that is required for the office. Denying science and its role in the parks is not the sign of a higher level of intelligence. So, we begin an era of the anti-intellectuals railing against science, knowledge, and information.
Our countries educational system is already failing... I can't imagine how much worse it will get in an era where we are teetering on a fully functioning idiocracy.
Congressman Zinke voted to: Weaken controls on air and water pollution in national parks, undermine protections for endangered species, de-fund efforts to clean up Chesapeake Bay, weaken the Antiquities Act by limiting the president's ability to designate new national monuments, has a 3% National Environmental Score from the League of Conservation Voters, and has an "F" from the NPAF for his voting record on National Parks related bills.
Zinke is in favor of "opening more public lands to oil and gas drilling, is a strong supporter of Montana's coal industry and has voted against regulations to protect waters in national parks from toxic surface mining run-off."
The only thing he seems to be against is privatizing the land or giving it to states. He does state he admires Roosevelt.
So there's that. He believes 'we' need to be prudent with regard to what we do about/with climate change.
Education, dedication, and experience must trump Luddites. A nation thanks the UNDERGROUND AGENCIES of the the people of the United States!
I just read an interesting article on Quartz media that mentioned a term from Germany in the 1930s that matches what is going on now --- Gleichschaltung.
Interesting and scary.
Gary, I said nothing about "facts". My post was about the wisdom of tweeting anything to do with your employment. Of course I defend anyones right to do it but would also defend that employers right to fire them for doing so. And you infer far too much on my positions.