You’re cruising down the highway, minding your business, when you see it: Greetings from Cuyahoga Valley National Park — Now with Reduced Staff, Made Possible by D.O.G.E. It’s not an ad for a vacation. It’s a warning — and a direct shot at Elon Musk, the man now overseeing the federal agency behind the cuts.
Over 300 billboards have popped up in 40 cities across the U.S., accusing the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) of quietly destroying the National Park Service from the inside out. And if the messaging sounds dramatic, that’s because it is — and intentionally so.
Funded by the pro-labor advocacy group More Perfect Union, the campaign is dragging Trump, Elon Musk, and their dystopian budget cuts right into the public eye. The targets? Park rangers, emergency staff, trail maintenance workers — basically anyone who makes public lands function like… public lands.
“Now With Reduced Staff”: The Impact of Elon Musk’s DOGE on Public Lands
The campaign’s aesthetic is pointed: retro postcard vibes with brutal modern messaging. “Now with Reduced Staff” isn’t just a tagline — it’s the reality. Since January, the National Park Service has laid off roughly 1,000 employees across the country, just as summer crowds ramp up. Cuyahoga Valley alone, which drew a record 2.9 million visitors last year, has already taken staffing hits.
“You’re likely to experience longer wait lines, more trash, all kinds of other issues,” said More Perfect Union director Faiz Shakir. “They’re operating off the assumption that they can cut government services and nobody will notice. I have a different view.”
And he’s not alone. The billboards are already generating conversation (and controversy) from Cleveland to Erie to Denver — and they’re just the first wave. A second, even larger rollout is planned for summer.
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What Is D.O.G.E. and Why Is Elon Musk Involved?
The Department of Government Efficiency — D.O.G.E. — is a Trump-era creation revived in his second term and handed over to Elon Musk to lead as a “business-minded solution” to what they frame as bloated federal bureaucracy. Translation: cut spending, cut staff, and turn public goods into private headaches.
“The government is operating doing the same with less,” said White House economic adviser Stephen Miran. “That’s exactly what the President promised.”
But that promise is already being felt in overflowing trash bins, slower emergency response, and fewer people to patrol vast park territories — especially in high-traffic destinations like Valley Forge and Cuyahoga.
Critics argue it’s not efficiency — it’s calculated erosion. And the fear is clear: this isn’t just about budgets. It’s about privatization.
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The Road to “Pay-to-Play”
“This is the beginning of a tiered system,” warned Shakir. “Certain people will pay for wonderful benefits… and the rest of us get cut out. That’s the direction we’re heading.”
Trump’s proposed budget, released last week, slashes over $1 billion from the National Park Service. Theresa Pierno of the National Parks Conservation Association called it “beyond extreme,” warning that it would decimate the system if passed.
And if that happens, say goodbye to the idea of national parks as an equal-access space. Welcome to the world of “basic entry fees,” “premium access packages,” and yes — “nature subscriptions.”
Resistance in Print (and Pixels)
More Perfect Union isn’t pretending billboards alone will fix it. But the visibility matters. The group plans to expand into digital campaigns and on-the-ground organizing, all aimed at making this issue unignorable.
“These ads are just the beginning,” Shakir said. “Once people hit the parks this summer and see what’s changed, they’ll understand exactly what D.O.G.E. is doing.”
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What Happens When Public Parks Stop Being Public
In a country where the rich get richer and the public gets gutted, the billboards feel almost quaint — until you realize they’re saying the quiet part out loud. Trump and Musk don’t want to close the parks. They want to remake them into something exclusive, tiered, and profitable.
And unless someone keeps shouting about it — from the highways, from the hilltops, and yes, from 300 giant billboards — they might just get away with it.
