Trump’s Order Strips National Parks of Critical History Ahead of Peak Season

Key facts

• Trump’s March 2025 executive order directs the Interior Department to remove content that 'inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.'
• At least 45 changes have been made to National Park Service displays, according to advocacy group Save Our Signs.
• A marker at Grand Teton National Park that noted explorer Gustavus Cheyney Doane’s role in a massacre of 173 Piegan Blackfeet members was removed.
• In Muir Woods, signs on Native American contributions and John Muir’s racist language were taken down.
• At Fort Sumter, a sign detailing climate change impacts—including that rising seas could inundate the fort—was removed entirely.
• A small group of Interior Department employees now reviews all new NPS website submissions, stripping references such as Thomas Jefferson fathering children with an enslaved woman.
• Before the change, more than 1,000 park staffers could edit website content; now authority is centralized in Washington.
• The NPS maintains 180,000 webpages, making a full overhaul a daunting task.

A Spring of Missing Markers

When tourists visit the Grand Teton National Park visitor center this spring, they will find a statue of 19th-century explorer Gustavus Cheyney Doane standing alone. The marker that once asked visitors to grapple with his legacy—noting that his expedition led to the first national park but also that he helped lead a massacre of at least 173 members of the Piegan Blackfeet—has vanished. The removal is one of at least 45 changes carried out under President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order, which directs the Department of the Interior to 'take action' against public content that 'inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.' The order, the administration argues, ensures that American history is portrayed in a positive light. Critics say it is erasing uncomfortable truths.

The Blackfeet Massacre and the Orwellian Charge

Tom Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation known as One Who Rides His Horse East, said the removal of the marker amounts to a second killing. 'We are killing them all over again,' he said, referring to the victims of what he called one of the 'most despicable historical experiences' for Native Americans. 'I think we’re at a point in our country where people think that if you tell half the truth, you’ve told all the truth, and that in itself, is a lie. It’s Orwellian.' The marker’s removal was cited in a lawsuit against the Interior Department, which manages the country’s national parks, as an example of the changes wrought by the order.

From Muir Woods to Fort Sumter: A Pattern of Erasure

In California’s Muir Woods National Monument, signs detailing the contributions of Native Americans and women have been removed, including a note informing visitors that John Muir once referred to indigenous people using racist language and ignored 'the genocide they survived.' The sign had concluded: 'This contributes to an idea that indigenous people don’t belong in parks.' At South Carolina’s Fort Sumter National Monument, a sign that included details on the looming impacts of climate change—specifically that 'rising seas could inundate most of the fort’s walls and flood the historic parade ground'—has been removed entirely. The Interior Department told CNN that at Fort Sumter, it 'acted to replace materials that were not grounded in real science with information that is accurate, evidence-based, and aligned with how the world actually works.'

Centralizing Control Over Park Narratives

The changes extend beyond physical displays to digital content. Since February, a small group of Interior Department employees has been reviewing all new submissions for National Park Service websites, evaluating material for compliance with Trump’s mandate. One review considered an article by a tribal group for the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail website; by the time it was posted, references to former President Thomas Jefferson fathering children with an enslaved young woman had been scrubbed. For NPS personnel, the loss of online authority is a major cultural shift. 'The Park Service has been for most—if not almost all—of its history very decentralized, with a lot of authority, including comms at the park level,' said Jonathan Jarvis, who led NPS during the Obama administration. 'This is a very divergent approach.'

A 'Total Lockdown' on Information

Any substantive changes or new materials on NPS websites must now be vetted by a digital team that answers directly to leaders in Washington, according to guidance viewed by E&E News and two employees familiar with the process. One NPS employee described the new process as a 'total lockdown' on information, part of a larger effort at Interior to restrict who can communicate with the public and what gets said. Before the changes, more than 1,000 park staffers had the ability to change website content. Now, that authority is concentrated in a small group. Interior did not answer questions about how many employees have web editing authority or whether the history review will be widely applied to the 180,000 webpages maintained by parks, including archives of images, educational videos, and historical research.

The 250th Birthday and the Battle Over History

The removals come as America enters a moment replete with opportunity to reflect upon its history, with celebrations to commemorate its 250th birthday throughout this year. In Washington, DC, a display on founding father George Mason has removed references to him 'paradoxically' owning slaves despite being a champion of 'individual rights.' Officials have recently defended the stricter communications rules. The Interior Department’s press office reshared a February statement asserting that park content reviewed by NPS and Interior would not necessarily be revised or removed. But the evidence on the ground—and on the web—tells a different story.

What Comes Next for America’s Story

It remains unclear how expansive the new review process will become. A substantial overhaul of NPS websites would be a daunting task, given the sheer volume of content. But the administration has shown it is willing to act swiftly on physical displays, and the centralized digital review suggests a long-term commitment to reshaping how the nation’s history is presented. As peak tourist season approaches, visitors will encounter a sanitized version of the past. The question, critics say, is whether a nation that tells only half its story can truly understand itself.

The bottom line

• Trump’s executive order has led to at least 45 documented changes to NPS displays, removing references to massacres, slavery, and climate change.
• A new centralized review process for NPS websites has stripped content about Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved family and other historical facts.
• The Interior Department defends the changes as ensuring 'accurate, evidence-based' information, but critics call it a 'total lockdown' on history.
• The removals affect both physical markers and digital content, with over 180,000 webpages potentially subject to review.
• The changes coincide with America’s 250th birthday celebrations, intensifying the debate over how the nation’s history should be remembered.
• Native American leaders, historians, and former NPS officials argue the erasure amounts to a second victimization of marginalized groups.