RICHMOND — Marking the 109th birthday of the National Park Service, Bay Area political leaders, historians, parks experts and residents rallied Monday for the preservation of the diverse history told through lands they say are under threat by the Trump administration.

Dozens gathered outside the visitor center at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, offering a collective voice against what they described as an “extremist agenda” to defund national parks and erase the history they honor.

“These places that we love, like Rosie here, they didn’t happen just because. They happened because of speakers you’re going to hear from later today. And they could just as easily go away if we don’t show up in their time of need,” said Neal Desai, senior pacific regional director with the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.

The rally coincided with the conservation group’s Day of Action, a countrywide push to advocate for hundreds of parks it says could be forced to close by federal budget cuts.

Attendees held signs urging support of the parks, criticizing the Trump administration, and celebrating and honoring women, a focus of the national park in Richmond.

“What brings me out here is unbelievable sadness and shame that we let this happen,” said Richmond resident Marlene Benke.

Monday’s event was an opportunity to speak out against the administration’s actions and to show younger generations that their elders fought back, said fellow Richmond residents Janet Ferraro and Andrea Shukis.

“Having a community that shows up, that cares and isn’t afraid, that won’t be silenced is key,” Shukis said. “And that’s why we’re here today.”

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, about 1,000 National Park Services employees have been fired and about $267 million meant for park improvements was rescinded under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by Trump in July, PBS reported.

Trump has also sought to overhaul information on display at federal sites, having signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The policy change forced a review of information on display at federal sites and led to signs and exhibits being removed at places like Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, other news outlets have reported. A sign also went up at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II visitor center advising people to report any information that was “negative about either past or living Americans or that fails to emphasize the beauty, grandeur and abundance of landscape and other natural features.”

Having worked on developing the Rosie the Riveter exhibit more than 25 years ago, historian Donna Graves said “the park stands in sharp contrast to the oversimplified and whitewashed version of U.S. history” that the Trump administration has tried to promote.

In addition to recognizing the work of women during World War II, the park has also intentionally celebrated the diverse groups of people who contributed to and were influenced by the war effort, from the Richmond branch of the NAACP who fought against housing discrimination and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer folks who found a community in the region, to the poor who found work that pulled them out of poverty brought on by the Great Depression.

Andrea Shukis, left, and Marlene Benke, both Richmond residents, sign a birthday card for the National Park Service on the 109th anniversary of the federal agency’s establishment at a rally outside the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (Sierra Lopez/Bay Area News Group) 

“Learning from our past isn’t just about getting the facts right, or the story straight. History helps us understand the society we live in now, and it gives us insights into the future that we want to build together,” Graves said.

Doria Robinson, a Richmond councilmember and executive director of Urban Tilth, a nonprofit focused on agricultural education and creating sustainable food systems, stressed the importance of communities understanding the complexities of history, not just the good parts, to continue pushing for progress.

National parks and the stories they tell are also vital for helping people realize their link to history, said Robinson, a third-generation Richmond resident whose family settled in the city from the South during World War II. Many children she interacts with through her nonprofit are unaware of their own connection to the war until touring the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center, Robinson said.

“If we learn only about the wins, we’ll never learn how you fight the battle, how you fight the war,” Robinson said.

John Jarvis, who served as director of the National Park Service for 40 years, said the protected lands are meant to be about more than beauty and nature. They’re about the people whose lives were shaped on and by the land and those who fought to preserve them and their history, he said.

“The existence of the National Park Service, its role in our society, its future, is about people,” Jarvis said. “It’s about people stepping up at this moment in time, when essentially the future of the National Park Service is in question.”