Fired Channel Islands Worker Speaks out at Protest Against Cuts to National Parks

Around 300 Protesters Demonstrated Outside Channel Islands National Park Visitor’s Center on Wednesday

At least 300 people showed up for the protest on Wednesday, holding signs and lining up down the street. | Credit: Callie Fausey

Kenan Chan, a marine ecologist who spent nearly a decade working on the Channel Islands, lost his dream job last month. He joins a growing list of casualties as the Trump administration hacks and slices its way through the federal workforce.

Recently fired scientist Kenan Chan addresses the group of protestors on Wednesday. | Credit: Callie Fausey

Chan was on a weekend trip in Yosemite when he received the call that his job at the Channel Islands National Park had been terminated in the name of “increasing efficiency.” After five seasons monitoring the channel’s kelp forests, getting at least 500 dives under his belt, and then landing a permanent job at the park in October, he was unexpectedly cut loose.

Chan was not the only one. Five other park employees also lost their jobs amid the wave of layoffs orchestrated by Elon Musk’s White House advisory team, which he calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.