‘Malicious compliance is your duty’: Forest Service workers unite as a pillar of democracy against rising U.S. fascism

There are many career civil servants across the U.S., but few embody the freedom of the American frontier like the United States Forest Service. The forestry organization is comprised of thousands of nature-loving folks from across the states, and for many of them, the job is their passion.

It’s something that people like Donald Trump don’t understand. For those men and women, the untamed wilderness across America and those “civilized” state parks are more than a job — it’s a way of life. As Trump’s administration slowly strips funding from state parks and chooses oil pipelines over natural wonders, those dedicated people are Mother Nature’s first lines of defense, and they aren’t going down without a fight.

Donald Trump has been in office for less than two weeks, but his team is rapidly smashing through precedent and demolishing national institutions. After months of promising Project 2025 was nothing but liberal fearmongering, the Heritage Foundation’s playbook is plowing forward and dismantling government institutions in its wake. Included in the purge was half a century’s worth of environmental protections, and members of the U.S. Forest Service are determined to undermine the orders.

It’s not the first time the agency has taken a combative stance with Trump. Shortly after his inauguration, Trump banned the official National Park Service from tweeting after it shared images comparing Trump’s inaugural crowd size to Barack Obama’s. A coalition of employees formed the Alt US National Park Service in 2017 in response, and the group helped pass some monumental park restoration acts before going dormant in 2020. Now it’s back, and more determined than ever to resist as Trump’s administration slaps gag orders on multiple agencies.

The group is posting on TikTok and Bluesky, regularly dishing out all the things Trump doesn’t want people to know. Like how the administration tried to blanket fire the inspectors generals, independent watchdogs assigned to sniff out illegality, over email because of a “change in priorities,” or how the buyouts for government employees are similar to Elon Musk’s Twitter purge.

Employees have been offered 7 months pay, but AltNPS claims, “Reports reveal some employees are being pressured to resign or face termination under the guise of organizational restructuring. In short: take the buyout or be fired.” The administration is attempting to rebrand Schedule F policy to restructure federal agencies so that employees roles qualify as “at-will employment,” meaning civil servants can be fired at any time, for any reason.

Career Civil servants across the spectrum are grappling with a president that doesn’t want them but can’t be left unattended. “If we leave, we will be replaced by loyalists,” one wrote in a call to action on Reddit. “I didn’t dedicate years of my life serving this great country to be bullied into quitting my career by a bunch of fascists.” Another shared in a separate discussion that they were told to stop “leaking” information on their social media. The censorship goes against Trump’s own executive order “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The Sec. 2b says no government employee is allowed to abridge free speech. “If they want compliance they don’t get to pick and choose. Malicious compliance is your duty,” another Redditor wrote.

Users across the AltNPS Bluesky account are sharing tips on how to combat the administrations march toward fascism with malicious compliance, leaks, and delays. It’s essentially the “quiet quitting” or “acting your wage” movement Gen Z has been pushing for years now, and though it may seem fruitless, similar bureaucratic resistance techniques were used throughout World War II.

Last time Trump was in office, he had a cavalcade of experienced career civil servants to curb his worst tendencies, now he’s managed to surround himself with a crew of cronies who want nothing more than to do his bidding. It’s a perfect setup for authoritarianism — especially if the impartial employees resign and let only yes-men hold the reins.

He’s only days into a four-year presidency, and Trump’s already shown where his team’s priorities lie and how far they are willing to go to get them. They are trying to use this show of force to scare and coerce people into leaving their positions and holding their tongues, but there are true patriots who are unwilling to give in. Knowing there are people within the government still willing to fight the good fight should spark joy, because if anyone is going to survive a fascist takeover, it’s the 30,000 men and women who know our forests like their own backyards.