Stories from the Field of Interpretation: Part 1

This year has been a challenging time for interpreters across the United States. Recent changes to federal policy have affected interpreters on a personal level, and they have affected the ability of interpretive sites to share messages and protect precious natural and cultural resources.

NAI is committed to advocating at all levels for our members and our field of interpretation. In March 2025, NAI’s leadership invited all members to share their stories of the impacts of these changes. The stories you have shared demonstrate how interpretation and interpreters are on the challenging frontlines of national cuts, legislation, and debates. By sharing these stories (with permission from their authors), NAI seeks to demonstrate the need for support of individual interpreters. Your stories, shared in Legacy Magazine and in other venues, will help NAI advocate for the profession itself.

The stories shared below represent only a portion of the experiences shared by NAI members thus far. We anticipate this “Stories from the Field of Interpretation” series will reappear in additional Legacy issues, as our national situation is rapidly changing and more interpreters are being affected in different ways. We welcome you to share your experiences with us on this short anonymous Google Form or by calling the NAI Main Office at 970-484-8283.

How have you been affected personally by changes to federal policy?

“It took my small park three years to hire the three employees that were wrongfully terminated. We had a staff of six. Half are now gone. The three that are left must cover several functions, including an entrance station, ecological areas, and an interpretive center. This leaves basically no time to do interpretation. Sure, we can slide in little tidbits everywhere—but the lasting impact those might have is nothing close to significant.”

“I lost colleagues abruptly, through no fault of their own. The ability of their sites to continue to function is impaired. We don’t have any unnecessary positions. We already don’t even have enough people to do the important work we are mandated to do. Now things are much worse, and the repercussions of the losses are long-lived.”

“Our children's science education program has had past funding from federal grants. Between those grants going away, and now a lack of community funding as the economic downturn impacts the country, we are going on hiatus. If we're lucky, we'll be back in the fall, but the signs are not looking good.”

“This affects us all, whether we lose our jobs or not, because some of our team members are missing. One day, you are at an ‘all employees meeting.’ The next day, two of you have been ‘let go.’ For chronically underfunded agencies, we are being asked to do less... with less… which we were already struggling with.”

How has interpretation at your site been affected by changes to federal policy?

“They fired all of the Interpretation Rangers and Lead Rangers.”

“We have maps in our signage and animals in our care that can be found in the Gulf of Mexico. Changing the name of a gulf for no other reason than political showmanship has had detrimental effects. Staff feel uncomfortable talking with guests about the Gulf of Mexico. No matter what they say, guests will have a visceral reaction—and in some cases, guests are triggered to such a point that they can no longer learn, or their entire visit is ruined by this one interaction. Our staff have been yelled at by guests for saying ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ Now, staff choose to not share information due to fear.”

“It feels like whatever work we're doing is being actively undone right in front of us. Everything just feels a little more hopeless.”

“All of our nonprofit’s research initiatives are possible through collaborations with state and federal agencies. We have spent years investing into these relationships and contributing to important conservation efforts, and now these projects are in jeopardy.”

“No more ranger programs. No more ‘ranger-led’ educational field trips (we have had 5,000 students participate some years). No more tours. The nonprofit that operates an interpretive store in the visitor center now must staff the information desk, which used to be staffed by interpretive rangers.”

“We were the public-facing staff of a visitor center that sees over one million cruise guests every summer. On top of running the visitor center, we were often the first to respond to medicals and injuries (heart attacks, strokes, diabetic shock, broken bones, cuts and lacerations, etc.) before EMS could arrive. We reunited lost children and lost elderly with their groups. We have a high frequency of human and black bear encounters, and we did management almost daily in the summer. These are just a fraction of the things that we did.”

“We were all fired based on supposedly ‘poor performance,’ with less than three months before the first cruise ship arrives. Our visitor center was gutted. Every one of those one-million-plus guests this summer will be impacted by these illegal firings.”

“We have been restricted in the topics we are allowed to address in social media. We are not free to carry out special programs and events that offend the current administration’s sensitivities. Our partners feel unsafe. We employees feel unsafe. Who knows who will be targeted next for doing or saying something the current administration wants to censor?”

“Our credit cards have been essentially taken away: we can’t pay our bills, can’t make purchases, can’t produce new interpretive signs, can’t buy supplies to support volunteers, can’t pay for plants for restoration…”

What is one thing you wish more people in general knew about how you have been affected?

“We told stories and the history of our natural resources and human impacts on the environment, ecosystems, endangered species, homesteading, ethnobotany, and fire. We discussed and presented programs on geology, paleontology, archaeology, biology, rock collecting, hunting and fishing on public lands, the US Forest Service, our National Parks, Bureau of Land Management, State lands/rules and regulations, the night sky (astronomy) and much, much more. We researched relevant topics and created appropriate posts to put on our Facebook (FB) page to share with the public. We had outstanding public response to our FB posts, which we recorded in a major database.

Since the changes, we have been banned from telling these stories, posting on FB and doing public outreach. Our major database entries have died an unnatural death. The public is no longer being reached.”

“We are not allowed to speak out and not allowed to say how we and our sites are affected. So, how can our communities learn about and understand the impacts and consequences?”

“I went down this career path out of a passion for helping other people connect with and appreciate a particular ecosystem. And I firmly believe that we need to increase access to these special places to underserved communities, and increase representation of the BIPOC community in this ecosystem’s science. Federal employees and contractors like me are trying to hold the line and stay in our jobs, but we are being battered every day, demoralized, and instead of serving the public, being forced to remove resources that in turn creates a disservice to the public. I’m trying to keep my light and hold hope that something will give, but it gets harder every day. We may lose another 1,000 employees if this Continuing Resolution (CR) passes [note: the CR passed March 14, 2025] and that will just make everything we do 10x harder. We really need support.”

“My colleagues are dropping out of the field and losing jobs. The pressure from administrators to make it work and stay within ‘acceptable’ language is strong. I am terrified that something we don't expect will impact how much my programming division is ‘needed.’ The added stress load of waiting for the other shoe to drop is affecting me mentally, emotionally, and physically.”

What is one thing you wish your colleagues knew about how you have been affected?

“Even if we as individuals have not lost our jobs yet, we all feel shaken, targeted, and insecure.”

“It is emotionally challenging to see the things I care most about (the environment, public land, reproductive rights, minority groups, etc.) being attacked. Please be patient with me when I am not my most productive self right now.”

“I have decided to pivot and learn about finances to help the conservation field from that angle rather than to keep going in this demoralizing and hopeless career field.”

“I feel like I lost members of my family, we lost our community.”

“I feel ill that so many people doing jobs like mine, and doing them well, were let go for no justifiable reason. A lot of people have needlessly lost their jobs, and I am sorry you are going through this. You don't deserve this.”

What else would you like to share?

“I want NAI and our community to speak up and fight back, and I acknowledge that we don't want to make our government members into targets—but I fear we are complicit in this if we stay quiet and safe.”

“Our colleagues in the Federal government are only the first to fall. This disregard for the American people will spread like a cancer to state and local governments, to private enterprises, to our sovereign Native governments, and into our homes. We must unite and find a way to protect our most vulnerable people, diverse cultures, our freedom from oppression, our lives, and the future of generations to come.”