Hundreds of protesters gathered in Boulder on Saturday in support of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which the Trump administration has vowed to dismantle.
The crowd — who were joined by elected officials like Rep. Joe Neguse and Sen. John Hickenlooper — gathered near the David Skaggs Research Center, which houses federal facilities and labs for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The area is more easily accessible than NCAR’s facility, a striking building perched on a mesa overlooking the city.
“[NCAR] impacts our community and our economy, but it’s also made a huge impact on humanity since 1960,” said Christine Cowles, with Forever Indivisible Boulder, a local chapter of an advocacy group that organized the protest. “And we can’t just not do something.”
On Tuesday night, White House budget director Russ Vought posted on X that the Trump administration would break up the organization, calling it a hub of “climate alarmism,” and vowing to move some of its work to other locations.
The administration’s decision provoked a furious response, partly because of how important the lab is to national and global weather research. The administration has also laid off dozens of employees at Boulder’s NOAA offices, and withheld or cancelled hundreds of millions of dollars in federal climate dollars destined for Colorado.
“ I think you’re gonna see a very muscular response on our part, and on the part of many in Congress, who believe this to be one of the most dangerous and reckless decisions that Donald Trump has made in his 11 months in office,” said Neguse, a Democrat whose district includes Boulder.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteProtesters gather in Boulder to decry President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteSenator John Hickenlooper (right) speaks with Ellen Wagner during a protest to decry President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteProtesters gather in Boulder to decry President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.
The center has pioneered major breakthroughs in climate and weather research. Those include devices to monitor hurricane conditions and a system to detect “wind shear” at airports, which can lead to plane crashes.
Snow lightly fell on protesters Saturday, who waved signs saying “Save NCAR” and solicited more than a few supportive honks from drivers.
The colder temperatures and calm skies were a far cry from the past few days, when more than 100 mph winds raced through Boulder County. The high fire danger led Xcel Energy to cut power for tens of thousands of customers; many are still without power.
NCAR maintains widely used weather models used to track wind events like those.
“It was also pretty ironic that as this whole windstorm was happening, everybody’s checking the internet whenever we had connection to see the NCAR wind speed readings,” said Alden Perkins, who attended the protest.
“That’s one thing that would go away if they manage to disestablish NCAR,” she said.
Current and former elected officials vow to fight the move
Some of Colorado’s elected officials vowed to fight the move.
Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper are holding up a government spending package to try to ensure that NCAR gets its funding. Hickenlooper said they would slow down the appropriations bill “for as long as we can” to keep the center fully funded.
“I talked to a dozen Republican senators on Thursday night,” Hickenlooper said. “And I think we’ll get the votes to have the Republicans say … the National Science Foundation should maintain the funding of NCAR.”
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteProtesters gather in Boulder to decry President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteProtesters gather in Boulder to decry President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteFairview High School senior Zana Prospero (left) shakes hands with Rep. Joe Neguse during a protest in Boulder decrying President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit consortium of universities, manages NCAR on behalf of the federal National Science Foundation (NSF).
In a statement, the National Science Foundation said it was reviewing NCAR’s structure and may try to move some work elsewhere.
Rep. Neguse said he would send a likely bipartisan letter to congressional appropriators, to secure NCAR’s funding in congressional spending bills. He also said that House Democrats would be exploring legal challenges to stop the dismantling.
“Suffice to say it’s going to be all-hands on deck,” he said.
Neguse previously suggested the decision to close NCAR was retaliation for the plight of Tina Peters, a former Mesa County Clerk currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence for helping a man gain unauthorized access to Mesa County’s Dominion voting machines in 2021.
President Trump issued a symbolic pardon for Peters last week, even though pardons are understood to apply only to federal crimes. Colorado has refused to release Peters.
Aaron Brockett, Boulder’s mayor, said the NOAA layoffs, the shutdown, and a general loss of federal funding is starting to be felt in the city.
“We’ve definitely been noticing an impact,” he said. “These are important well-paying jobs and folks who’ve been an important part of our community for a long time.”
Cuts to science draw a crowd
UCAR’s head, Antonio Busalacchi, told NPR News this week that the decision to scrap NCAR was political, while the center itself produces apolitical science.
“We’re very careful not to cross over that line to advocacy or policy prescription,” he told NPR News.
Protesters in Boulder chanted in support of science, while also wondering why this center in particular was on the chopping block. The area around NCAR is home to popular hiking trails.
“NCAR has such a special place in my heart,” said Annika Aumentado, a college student who grew up in Boulder. She said visiting NCAR was a recurring field-trip when she was in school.
Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteBoulder Mayor Aaron Brockett joins a protest decrying President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.Kevin J. Beaty/DenveriteProtesters hold puppets during a rally decrying President Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, nearby. Dec. 20, 2025.
“They can’t destroy NCAR … that’s where we first gained a love of science,” she said.
Kristopher Larsen, a planetary scientist at CU-Boulder and former mayor of Nederland, said so much of his colleagues’ work intersects with NCAR’s research, including his own NASA-funded projects.
“ NCAR does such fundamental research on the climate, on meteorology, on the atmosphere that everyone’s work touches it,” he said.
Steven Oncley worked at NCAR for his entire career, starting after his graduate degree. He focused on “micro-meterology,” a field which meant he studied fire weather, pollution, carbon dioxide research and more. His research, and that of his colleagues, helped refine hugely important weather models used throughout the world.
“It’s horrible — it would be just a huge loss to the nation, to the world,” he said if NCAR was eliminated.
