Trump administration sued over new signage policy affecting national parks
Slavery exhibits at President's House in PA removed
LiveNOW's Christina Evans speaks with Fallon Roth at Philadelphia Enquirer about slavery exhibits being removed from the president's house in Philadelphia.
Conservation and historical organizations are suing the Trump administration over new National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America’s national parks.
Big picture view:
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Boston says orders by President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including slavery and climate change.
The backstory:
The exhibit changes were in response to a March 2025 Trump executive order "restoring truth and sanity to American history" at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the Interior Department to ensure those sites do not display elements that "inappropriately disparage Americans past or living." In May 2025, Burgum directed removal of "improper partisan ideology" from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.
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Timeline:
In order to comply with the Secretary’s Order, Park Service staff began removing material in the summer of 2025, according to the lawsuit.
Here are the specific parks and sites listed in the lawsuit, and what the lawsuit claims has been removed from their exhibits and signage:
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Grand Canyon National Park: Reportedly removed portions of displays characterizing settlers, cattle ranchers, and tourists as negatively impacting the land for their own benefit and describing how federal officials claimed tribal land to establish the park.
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Arizona
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument: Reportedly ordered removal of a sign describing basalt bubbles because it included an image of a visitor holding a Pride flag.
Muir Woods in Golden Gate National Park, California
FILE - Visitors look at an exhibit while walking through Muir Woods National Monument on July 24, 2025 in Muir Woods National Monument, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Muir Woods in Golden Gate National Park: Reportedly removed signage discussing Indigenous history, the role of women in the Muir Woods conservation movement, and the historical role of Park Service staff in eugenics movements.
Acadia National Park, Maine
Acadia National Park: Reportedly removed signage discussing the Wabanaki people and the significance of Cadillac Mountain to their culture and heritage; and describing the effects of climate change to the park.
Lowell National Historical Park, Massachusetts
Lowell National Historical Park: Reportedly stopped showing two films on labor history.
Glacier National Park, Montana
Glacier National Park: Reportedly ordered removal of materials describing concept of climate change, the effect it has had on the park and its role in driving the disappearance of glaciers.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at the Gateway National Recreation Area, New York
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at the Gateway National Recreation Area: Reportedly removed an exhibit about climate change, women’s rights and liberty, and components of the country’s history "we hope never to repeat—like slavery, massacres of Indians, or holding Japanese Americans in wartime camps."
President’s House Site at Independence National Historical Park, Pennsylvania
President’s House Site at Independence National Historical Park: Reportedly removed an exhibit that examined the "paradox between slavery and freedom in the founding of the nation" and described the critical role that enslaved people played during George Washington’s presidency.
READ MORE: Judge orders slavery exhibit must be restored at President's House in Philadelphia
Fort Sumter, South Carolina
Fort Sumter: Reportedly removed signage describing how the historic island fortress may be underwater by the end of the century due to climate change.
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Grand Teton National Park: Reportedly removed a sign explaining the history of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a key member of an early Yellowstone expedition who had participated in a massacre of Native Americans.
RELATED: Lawsuit filed against Trump admin over Stonewall pride flag removal
By the numbers:
Additionally, the lawsuit claims "thousands" of more items have been reportedly flagged by the Park Service for removal because they allegedly don’t comply with the secretary’s order.
For example:
The lawsuit mentions dozens of unspecified items have been flagged at:
- Fort Pulaski National Park
- Harper’s Ferry National Historic Park
- Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
- Kingsley Plantation in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
- Virgin Islands National Park
- Cane River Creole National Historic Park
- Manassas National Battlefield
- Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
- Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park in Kansas
- Sitka National Historical Park
- Glacier National Park
- Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site
- Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
- Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site
- Death Valley National Park
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- Cape Hatteras National Seashore
- Everglades National Park
- Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Though some examples were listed from each site in the lawsuit, ranging in reasons from containing the word "equity" to mentioning mistreatment of Indigenous groups to talking about air pollution.
What they're saying:
The activist groups at the center of the lawsuit say they are "committed to protecting the national parks, preserving history, promoting access to high quality scientific information, and providing high quality interpretive materials—including exhibits, signs, brochures, and other educational materials—that bridge the gap between physical objects and human understanding for park visitors."
They’re asking for the interior secretary’s order to be declared unlawful and that no further historical or scientific information be removed from national parks.
Dig deeper:
The suit was filed by a coalition that includes the National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers and Union of Concerned Scientists.
Meanwhile:
Separately, LGBTQ+ rights advocates and historic preservationists sued the park service Tuesday for removing a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, the New York site that commemorates a foundational moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The Source: Information in this article was taken from the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, before the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Background information was taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Detroit.