"I don't think we're going to change the course of this administration by saying, 'Oh, please don't do that.’” -- Gregg Bafundo, former U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger, on the Trump administration's actions involving public lands/Kurt Repanshek file

By now you've seen the stories about what you'll experience in the National Park System this summer: crowds and long lines to enter parks, dirty restrooms, vandalism, chaos.

The question to be asked is what can be done about the cutbacks the Trump administration is making to the National Park Service that will either directly impact your vacation or, possibly behind the scenes, lead to damage to the parks' natural resources.

"Senators really have to take a hard look in the mirror, especially in Western states, who understand that the outdoor recreation economy supports rural communities, that the system of national parks and public lands that we have helps rural communities survive and thrive," U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez replied when posed with that question. "That is their duty. And so we fully expect to have senators from especially Western states, but also places like Alaska, to be able to step up and to prevent some of these cuts from happening during the [budget] reconciliation process.

"Because what we've seen in the U.S. Senate is that they want to put public lands on the ledger to essentially balance this tax giveaway to billionaires. So we have to have some courage. We have to have folks speaking up," said Vasquez, a Democrat who along with U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican who also served as Interior secretary during President Donald Trump's first term, has sponsored the Public Lands in Public Hands Act that would prevent the sell-off of public lands to offset Trump's desired tax cuts.

"There are legislative tools that we can use, but it's going to take courage, and it's going to take folks stepping up to support bills like mine to be able to to stop this from happening. And so, those are some of the pragmatic issues that we are facing," Vasquez said Friday during a teleconference sponsored by the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.

Standing in downtown Silver City, New Mexico, the congressman also pointed to the lawsuits that have been filed to prevent the firing of probationary workers. 

While there have been rallies around the country to protest the cuts being inflicted on the land-management agencies, Gregg Bafundo, a recently fired U.S. Forest Service wilderness ranger (he actually was fired twice, once on Valentine's Day and again after he regained his job), said Americans should crowd the National Park System and other public lands to show how beloved and valuable they are.

"We need the American people to show up and swarm their national parks and their national monuments and their national forests to show the value that these lands have. I don't think we're going to change the course of this administration by saying, 'Oh, please don't do that.'

"I think that the fact that both Zinke and (U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho) have signed on to that Public Lands in Public Hands bill is amazing. And it says a lot about the value of public lands to Americans, whether you're conservative or whether you're liberal," said Bafundo, who once patrolled the vast Gila Wilderness in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. "What we need the American people to do is to use their public lands. We need the American people to not be afraid to get out there. We need the American people to show up and swarm their national parks and their national monuments and their national forests to show the value that these lands have. I don't think we're going to change the course of this administration by saying, 'Oh, please don't do that.'

"But it's going to take courage and it's going to take leadership like Representative Vasquez, it's going to take (U.S. Sen.) Cory Booker-esque leadership to stand up there and push back against this administration and really make it the issue that it is. Because the fear is that when these lands are gone, they're gone forever."

Emily Thompson, the Coalition's executive director, said advocacy groups and media need to point out when problems arise across public lands.

"As things fail, we need to continue to highlight that and call it out. So when there are long lines, when there are unfortunate safety concerns and incidents, they have to be highlighted," said Thompson. "We have to keep talking about it and make noise about why cuts to the workforce, why loss of public lands, why this is dangerous, why it's bad for the American people, why it's bad for local economies. We just have to continue to be vocal."