Trump administration accused of ‘erasing history’ from national parks
Erik Uebelacker
(CN) — The federal government has betrayed the more than century-old tradition of dutifully preserving the history of national wonders, battlefields, indigenous grounds and civil rights symbols through a “sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science,” according to a group of conservationists and historians.
In a 60-page complaint, filed Tuesday in Boston’s federal court, the batch of scientific and historical groups are charging the Trump administration with unlawfully removing information about civil rights, climate change and other topics from national parks and monuments around the country.
“Government censorship in our national parks violates the very ideals our country was built on,” Alan Spears, National Parks Conservation Association Senior Director for Cultural Resources, said in a statement. “Today, we rise to defend the brave, hardworking rangers who come to parks every day to share American history and science with millions of visitors from around the world. Our rangers are dedicated public servants who signed up to protect awe-inspiring landscapes and fascinating history, not hide it from the public.
The scrutinized campaign stems from a 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump, which promised to strip national sites of “corrosive ideology” that he claimed permeated through Democratic administrations before him.
“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” Trump wrote in the executive order dated March 27, 2025.
Two months later, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order to National Park Service employees demanding that they “immediately undertake” action to remove disfavored information.
“That campaign escalated in recent weeks,” the suing groups claim, pointing to various examples of the administration stripping historic information from federally maintained sites.
In one instance, the National Park Service “tore down the exhibit in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park memorializing the legacy of people enslaved by the country’s first President,” the groups claim. In another, they say the agency “ripped away signage detailing climate threats at Fort Sumter, one of the country’s most environmentally endangered parks.”
The actions represent an unprecedented politicization in the upkeep of national parks, the groups claim, which has historically been a largely nonpartisan operation entrusted to the federal government by Congress for more than 150 years.
“The federal government has now betrayed that trust,” the groups write in their suit.
The coalition of plaintiffs include the National Parks Conservation Association, the American Association for State and Local History, the Association of National Park Rangers, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, the Society for Experimental Graphic Design and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The coalition is being represented by Democracy Forward, a left-leaning legal nonprofit that has undertaken several other lawsuits against the administration.
They assert that the Trump administration is running afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act by deciding to adopt and implement Burgum’s 2025 order “without considering Congress’s clear instructions; the effect on constituencies that help operate, maintain and visit the parks; the consequences on communities; or the long-term impact on the ability to preserve the parks for the unimpaired ‘enjoyment of future generations.’”
The groups are seeking an order from the court that would deem Burgum’s mandate unlawful and order the government to return the national parks to the status quo. They also hope the court prevents Trump’s executive order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” from spawning any similarly unlawful mandates.
In a statement to Courthouse News, a spokesperson for the Interior Department attacked the National Parks Conservation Association as a partisan group tied to Democrats.
“Our parks are nonpartisan, but the NPCA isn’t and they are using you to further raise money off of our parks while never giving those funds to our parks,” the spokesperson said.
In addition to the department itself, the lawsuit targets Burgum, the National Park Service and its acting director Jessica Bowron.
It’s at least the second action against the Interior Department on Tuesday for its handling of national parks and monuments.
In the Southern District of New York, a group of LGBTQ+ advocates sued the agency for removing a pride flag at the historic Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan last week. In that lawsuit, too, the groups claimed the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act by engaging in an arbitrary and capricious act.