If you're driving on State Route 161 on Columbus' northeast side, you may see a tourism-style billboard alerting passersby to Dept. of Govt. Efficiency federal staff cuts at Ohio's only national park.
The billboard says "Greetings from Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Now with Reduced Staff Made Possible by DOGE." Billboards like these around the U.S. for CVNP and other parks are being funded by More Perfect Union, a progressive group run by an aide to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
About 70 billboards have been erected in Ohio near Cleveland and Akron, and have also been spotted in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Erie, Pennsylvania.
The billboards call attention to at least half a dozen cuts the federal government made this year to park staff. Ideastream Public Media reported in February these cuts included a biologist, maintenance worker, engineer and planner.
WOSU reached out to the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior with questions regarding any staffing cuts made to CVNP, but the agencies did not respond.
In a statement, CVNP spokesperson Jennie Vasarhelyi said the park's operations are mostly operating as they normally would.
"Most of the trails and facilities will remain open for normal hours in Cuyahoga Valley National Park this summer," Vasarhelyi said. "The Towpath Trail between Fitzwater Road and Tinkers Creek Aqueduct is temporarily closed for riverbank stabilization to address active erosion. Two of the park's 28 public restrooms are closed."
Faiz Shakir, executive director for More Perfect Union, says his group funded the billboards to bring attention to the job cuts.
"It is inappropriate in my view to think about them as the first lines of attack on government inefficiencies or fraud. These aren't the best targets. There are many other better targets if you're going after government inefficiencies or government waste," Shakir said.
Shakir said his agency learned of the cuts through local media reports, but deferred to the National Park Service and DOGE about the exact details of the staffing cuts.
Shakir currently works for Sanders as his chief political advisor and was the independent senator's campaign manager for his 2020 presidential campaign.
Shakir was critical of DOGE's process in deciding these cuts.
"I know from the DOGE perspective, they look at a spreadsheet and press delete, and they're not too worried about some of what they deem to be 'low-level people' doing jobs of maintaining the cleanliness of a park or keeping your experience of a high quality," Shakir said.
The 33,000 acre northeastern Ohio park isn't the only national park More Perfect Union is bringing attention to in the U.S. Shakir said they are also targeting areas near Key Biscayne in Florida, Death Valley National Park in California, Valley Forge National Historical Park in Pennsylvania and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
Shakir said they are putting the billboards up to raise awareness about the cuts right before the peak travel season during summer when many national parks get the most visitors.
"(Families) look forward to it all year round, take their children and visit some of the best that America has to offer. And in my view, sadly, this year... we could experience a degraded experience or degraded quality of experience for many people who are gonna go to these national parks," Shakir said.
Shakir said his group is watching for more cuts being proposed by President Donald Trump's administration in the federal budget and proposals to sell parkland and other federally-owned land for mining, drilling and other corporate ownership rights.
Shakir said he doesn't think the billboards will deter visitors, but he does hope they will inspire conversation and debate about why these cuts needed to happen.
"It doesn't matter if you're a billionaire or somebody who makes $100,000 a year or $10,000 a year, you can generally go to the national parks and have the same experience as somebody else. That's what we wanna preserve and maintain," Shakir said.
