Fired Fredericksburg Park Ranger Warner’s Guest At Trump Speech

WASHINGTON, DC — A former National Park Service ranger from Fredericksburg was U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner’s (D-Virginia) guest at President Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night.

Last month, Ashley Ranalli was fired from her job at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, despite exemplary performance reviews. She was one of the more than 1,000 NPS workers estimated to have been indiscriminately laid-off by the Trump administration. As probational employees, they had not yet gained civil service protection.

“Ashley Ranalli is one of the many dedicated public servants who have been forced out of their jobs serving Americans by President Trump and Elon Musk,” Warner said, in a release on Tuesday. “Our national parks are places where we connect with nature, our shared history and one another, and that is made possible by the hard work of national park rangers, whose dedication, expertise, and passion not only safeguard our landscapes and wildlife but also help preserve the stories and history that make these places so special.

"These indiscriminate cuts of Park Service personnel are devastating to the parks and their local communities," Warner added. "I am glad that Ashley is able to join as my guest for the address to Congress, so that President Trump can look out into the audience and face a Virginian directly affected by his short-sighted and reckless choices.”

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A 41-year-old thyroid cancer survivor, Ranalli saw her dream of becoming a national park ranger ripped away last month after years of dedication and hard work.

“I am devastated by the effect the purge of federal employees has had on Fredericksburg, a community that I love and which relies upon federal workers and tourism dollars from the national park,” she said.

Ranalli first started working at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park last fall, serving as a volunteer and youth program coordinator. Prior to that, she was a public school English teacher, who spent her summers as a seasonal worker at various NPS sites around Virginia. In spite of a recent performance review describing her work as “excellent” and “outstanding,’ she received a layoff notice from the Department of the Interior on Feb. 14.

"Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to talk to you about my beautiful city, which is also being deeply affected by the cut to the economy," Ranalli said, during a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. "Our park is the reason why there is a built-up downtown in Fredericksburg. It brings in tourism dollars. I have walked around and canvassed all of the little stores in the area. Their business has been cut in half. It does not just affect me, my friends, the 1,000 other park rangers. It affects my community. It's a magical place — Y'all should go. I am a Fredericksburg person, through and through. That is my home. I love it so, so much."

National Parks Conservation Association estimated that 9 percent of NPS staff have been lost to mass firings and resignations in just a few weeks.