News from rural America.

Farmworkers' advocates say Trump administration cuts to ag workers' wages will deepen poverty, another effort is underway to sell off national parks and a Colorado artist is practicing civil disobedience to protest their perceived politicization.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

Farm workers advocates are condemning Trump administration cuts to required wage rates for agricultural workers, both foreign born in the H-2A visa program and the US citizens they work with.

United Farm Workers' Diego Iniguez Lopez says the wage cuts are significant.

This is gonna make farm workers who ensure that we have food on our table unable to afford to themselves.

It's horrendous, it's callous.

We're deep in poverty within farm worker communities.

The Department of Labor says the rule change will transfer almost $2.5 billion a year from farm workers to their employers and let companies charge for what had been free housing.

Farms already struggle to find workers, and Iniguez-Lopez predicts that will get worse.

The basic economic theory holds that if there's a labor shortage, the thing to do is to raise wages, not decrease them. the union suing to reverse the rule.

A Utah senator is again trying to sell off national parks to real estate and oil and gas companies.

Mike Lee's last attempt failed amid massive bipartisan pushback, but he's backing a new funding bill amendment that would remove language requiring the government to keep and protect national parks, clearing the way for them to be sold to the highest bidder.

Todd Martins with the National Parks Conservation Association.

America's national parks and public lands are beloved by all Americans of all political stripes, and they don't want to see our history sold off.

In 2024, a record 300 million people visited America's national parks.

Martin says along with providing critical wildlife habitat and clean tap water, they drive the economies of local communities.

Attacks on our parks and public lands is an attack on the businesses in the gateway communities who really rely on the tourism that our parks generate.

The importance of national parks isn't lost on Colorado artist Jenny McCarty, a visitor since childhood.

She's using civil disobedience to protest what she calls the politicalization of next year's annual pass.

The credit card size pass traditionally features artwork or photography honoring the parks, but the new one has pictures of Presidents Donald Trump and George Washington.

McCarty's created stickers of a grizzly bear, a wolf and a western pika which stick neatly over the images.

National Parks are our greatest treasure here in our nation and we want to ensure that exists for generations.

It has nothing to do with the current political party.

The portraits are justified as commemorating the nation's birthday but McCarty's response has been successful selling more than 4,000 stickers in just two weeks.

The money's going to parks strained by deep staff and budget cuts.

All proceeds are going to the National Parks Association as well as the National Park Conservation Alliance.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more world stories, visit dailyyonder.com.