Laid-off employees who hung a U.S. flag upside-down at Yosemite National Park say the action was a call to protect the nation's public lands.

The flag was reportedly hung over the side of El Capitan as a sign of protest by Yosemite employees concerned about the recent downsizing carried out as part of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiatives.

A photograph accurately shows a U.S. "distress" flag hung upside down from the side of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park by a group of employees.