Approximately 100 people with signs and flags gathered at the southern end of the viaduct in Whitefish on Monday to protest executive actions by the Trump administration, with many objecting to last week’s federal layoffs within the Forest Service. 

A grassroots effort, news of the protest was circulated via social media and email lists. Others heard about the event from church groups, book clubs and word of mouth. The protest coincided with other demonstrations across the nation that were dubbed “Not My Presidents Day.” 

John Repke, who was a Democratic candidate for Montana state auditor last election cycle, was among the protesters in Whitefish. He said he was there to defend democracy, the rule of law and the American way. 

“Because what’s happening right now in the country, as I see it, is not American,” he said. “We’ve got a Congress that won’t exert any sort of judgment, discipline, responsible behavior.” 

Repke said centralized power has been given to unelected officials like billionaire Elon Musk, who is overseeing the newly created Department of Government Efficiency as a special government employee. He said the cuts that are being made to federal agencies are affecting everyone. 

“I think this chaos could lead to a crisis if we don’t do something to stop it,” Repke said. 

Last Friday, 3,400 Forest Service employees received termination notices and about 360 of them worked in Montana.

Bobby Oshaben worked for the Forest Service as a timber marker on the Flathead National Forest until last Friday when he received a termination letter that said he was being laid off due to his performance. 

“Which is the same letter that 200,000 other federal employees received, so it’s obviously a lie,” he said.  

Oshaben was planning on building his career in timber because he loves land management after having worked in the field for five years. 

“It’s definitely a shock,” he said. “Definitely makes you feel lost.” 

He said Flathead National Forest recently converted all temporary seasonal employees to permanent seasonal employees, thereby cutting the workforce by a third. Now, all those employees have been laid off. 

“So, basically, we’ve lost our entire seasonal tech workforce,” he said. 

Oshaben said the local timber industry runs on very slim margins and they heavily rely on the national forest timber output. 

“Our timber crew is gone now, so this will absolutely affect the local economy, loggers, our local lumber mills and prices of everything,” he said. 

Chantal Bussiere was formerly with the trail crew of the Bitterroot National Forest. Her entire crew was fired last week, one of whom had worked with the Forest Service for 11 years. 

“Most or all of the trail crews that we have are no longer working,” she said. 

Bussiere said hikers, backpackers, horseback riders and backcountry hunters use the trails, but most people don’t know what trail crews do. 

“We hike, with chainsaws and hand tools, for miles into the wilderness, cutting and moving fallen logs out of the way, digging out damaged sections of trail, monitoring trail conditions,” she said. “It’s a lot of work.” 

She said trails become unusable quickly without maintenance. That maintenance will now be done by nonprofits, who often depend on federal dollars for support. 

“But the U.S. government has decided we don’t need trail crews,” Bussiere said. “The public lands are, I think, the proudest thing that America has. Montana especially, has an incredible bounty of public lands and we can’t lose them. They are so important.” 

While the Forest Service cuts hurt Montanans deeply, that was not the only concern on the minds of the protesters.  

Courtnie Brooks attended the protest to support the immigrant community. 

“I’m here today because I work with immigrants in our community,” said Brooks. “Historically, we know immigrants have propped up our country and they give back to our communities, but we just see them right now as criminals and as thieves and it’s because of the rhetoric in our country.” 

Protester Dade Wendt had trouble pointing to a single issue that brought him to the viaduct. He said the Trump administration is utilizing a shotgun approach, of sorts. 

“You just shotgun out all these terrible, terrible policies and people can’t pay attention to all of them because it seems too overwhelming,” he said. 

He is also concerned about the Forest Service cuts, which he called “crazy” and “ludicrous.”