Nationwide parks, homosexual nation music, and thirst traps have quite a bit in widespread, at the least on the web.
A whole lot of TikTok posts combining sexually express audio, comical memes and beautiful views of nature have flooded social media feeds. The viral pattern coincides with President Donald Trump’s unprecedented funding cuts focusing on federal parks, forests, monuments, seashores and trails.
The message of #ParkTok and #MountainTok is G-rated: to preserve and defend public lands. The raunchy content material is merely a wrapper to lure followers and get that message in entrance of as many individuals as doable.
At first look, the TikTok fan accounts for Yellowstone and Joshua Tree — amongst dozens of different nationwide parks, forests and recreation websites — look like competing in an unhinged brawl. Some commenters speculate that federal park rangers or advertising and marketing strategists have gone rogue to garner outdoors monetary assist.
However the unofficial accounts, that are rising in quantity day by day, are run by unbiased content material creators with no affiliation to the federal government. In keeping with the Nationwide Park Service’s Workplace of Public Affairs, the NPS has no official presence on TikTok, as there aren’t any phrases of service between federal companies and the platform.
“Viral tendencies centered on nationwide parks can definitely enhance park visibility and drive elevated curiosity and consciousness,” the Nationwide Park Service advised CNET in an e mail. “We respect the passion for our nation’s parks and the inventive methods people share their experiences on-line.”
And tens of millions of social media followers say they’re right here for it. Selling the nation’s huge panorama and its preservation for future generations may function a sort of non secular uplift in darkish occasions.
Nature is attractive; funds cuts aren’t
Far past the racy grownup content material, there is a unifying objective to posting movies of cascading waterfalls, colossal timber, seductive deserts and enchanting wildlife. Researchers have famous that nationwide parks are key to conserving biodiversity and supporting individuals’s well-being. And it appears everybody, not simply nature nerds, can get behind these public lands — US nationwide parks noticed a report quantity of recreation visits final 12 months, almost 332 million.
“In the event you truly love all these things, you get connected to that magnificence,” stated Kim Tanner, the creator of the Joshua Tree fan account. “And then you definitely notice you don’t need that magnificence broken.”
The Trump administration’s 2026 funds plan contains slashing greater than $1 billion from the Nationwide Park Service. It additionally threatens to axe a whopping $33 billion from nationwide recreation administration packages and conservation and preservation grants. The grants are crucial to sustaining 433 particular person areas of public lands masking greater than 85 million acres, that are managed by the NPS.
The Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation says the White Home’s funds reductions are the biggest proposed cuts to the Nationwide Park Service in its 109-year historical past and will “decimate at the least 350 Nationwide Park websites.” Many have stated Trump is laying the groundwork to unload public lands and switch leisure areas over to state-level administration.
In keeping with Kristen Brengel, senior vp of presidency affairs for the Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation, the NPS has already misplaced almost 2,500 staff, or almost 13% of its employees, in what she calls a “mind belief exodus” of environmental consultants.
“What’s occurring proper now, in attempting to dismantle the Nationwide Park Service from the within out, is extra horrific than something we have seen earlier than,” Brengel advised me.
Getting wild for the wild
TikTok is controversial, and so is intercourse. That is exactly why tendencies like these have political capital, able to attracting admirers and haters, and bringing everybody else into the dialog.
“The polarization on social media is reflective of our real-life political polarization,” stated CNET social media reporter Katelyn Chedraoui.
The #ParkTok and #MountainTok creators, a few of whom are former park staff, are all nature lovers who span the political spectrum. Lots of the accounts overtly denounce the administration’s threats in opposition to the parks and direct viewers to demonstrations or fundraisers, however the pattern is not overtly partisan or activist-driven.
“Most of their posts work on a unconscious degree, prompting viewers to consider the nationwide parks and their very own experiences with them,” stated Chedraoui. “It is easy however efficient.”
Actually, the TikTok engagement round public lands originated earlier than the funds cuts to the parks. The primary three fan accounts — Mount Hood, Mount Rainier and Yellowstone — appeared proper after the elections final November. Managed by three mates who’re avid outside lovers, the accounts put up posts early on that have been a mixture of comedian aid and wilderness awe.
There wasn’t a lot thirst lure content material then. “It was simply waterfalls and vistas and sunsets,” stated Jaime Wash, the creator behind the Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens fan accounts. Then, two of the creators began trolling one another, and folk beloved it.
It was faux beef, however the diss-track template grew to become a profitable technique. By January, the pattern began selecting up pace, with extra fan accounts becoming a member of the fray. Over the past a number of months, the recognition of the posts has seen ebbs and flows — till pretty just lately, when all of #MountainTok and #ParkTok blew up for his or her risqué content material.
Personal elements in public lands grew to become a magic components, a sort of viral virility, that the creators knew the right way to play up. “Social media customers are very used to manufacturers appearing unhinged on TikTok,” stated Chedraoui.
A bridge over troubled water
Some critics have slammed the parody accounts, accusing creators of attempting to monetize a official trigger, or claiming that the sexually charged content material damages the parks’ reputations.
However in accordance with the creators, who collaborate usually in a bunch chat, earning profits wasn’t, and by no means can be, their intention. Wash advised me that if at any level they do accumulate a payout for the content material, they plan to donate the funds to the parks.
After gaining such an enormous following, Wash stated, she felt it was her duty to get individuals concerned. In April, the Mount Hood fan account introduced out followers to Portland’s Fingers Off protest.
“We’re constructing a neighborhood to point out that issues aren’t helpless, that change can occur and we’re there for one another,” Wash stated. And moreover elevating the alarm, the posts add comedian aid and leisure to a day by day cycle of doomscrolling and anxiousness.
Tanner advised me that #ParkTok and #MountainTok can assist open individuals’s eyes, displaying how fragile nature actually is. By highlighting endangered animals and the harm from issues like logging, drilling and mining, they can assist tens of millions of followers perceive what’s actually at stake.
The stunning energy of social media
Social media acts as a cultural barometer, revealing public sentiment in actual time and highlighting the problems that resonate. Platforms like TikTok additionally give grassroots actions a megaphone, permitting on a regular basis individuals to bypass conventional media filters and converse on to broad audiences.
The NPCA encourages individuals to join motion alerts on their web site to avoid wasting the parks.
“We have seen digital motion result in tangible motion,” stated Sheila Nguyen, affiliate director of communications and engagement for the Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation. “The extra individuals who see that social media content material, the larger the pool of people that could converse up and the extra collective affect we will have,” Nguyen advised CNET in an e mail.
Actually, social media publicity has been proven to spice up nationwide park visitation. A 2024 analysis examine discovered that constructive social media posts that embody images or movies drive the most important will increase in visitation.
“The extra individuals we will get into these parks, the higher. That manner, they’ll expertise it firsthand, see it, fall in love with it, after which wish to defend it,” stated Tanner.
The Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation urges individuals to join alerts on its advocacy web page to allow them to elevate issues with congressional representatives. “We really feel that Congress is the best choice proper now to get the administration to again off of those dangerous proposals,” stated the NPCA’s Brengel. “Congress must be pushed to cease a few of these horrible actions.”
Many TikTok creators I spoke with additionally stated they’re advocating methods to carry elected officers accountable.
“It is heartbreaking to suppose the locations that I completely love could by no means be the identical once more,” stated Wash, “and I wish to do something to cease that.”