Park Signage Lawsuit: History and Science in the Crosshairs

A group of conservationists, historians, and scientists has taken legal action against the current federal administration over new rules that have led to the removal or alteration of educational displays in national parks across the United States. The lawsuit claims that orders issued by the president and the interior secretary have forced park staff to delete or censor information about slavery, climate change, Indigenous history, and other topics that are essential for a full understanding of America’s past and environment. The dispute began when an executive directive was issued in March 2025, calling for a “restoration of truth and sanity” at public museums and parks. The order instructs the Interior Department to eliminate any content that could be seen as “inappropriately disparaging” Americans of the past or present. In May 2025, a subsequent memo from the interior secretary explicitly required the removal of what it described as “improper partisan ideology” from federally managed sites. Park officials began acting on these instructions in the summer of 2025, according to the complaint.Specific examples cited in the lawsuit include the Grand Canyon National Park, where panels that criticized settlers and ranchers for harming the land were taken down; the Sunset Crater Volcano Monument, where a sign about basalt bubbles was removed because it featured a visitor holding a Pride flag; and Muir Woods in California, where notices about Indigenous peoples, women’s roles in conservation, and the park service’s involvement in eugenics were eliminated. Other parks mentioned are Acadia, Lowell, Glacier, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, Fort Sumter, Grand Teton, and many more. The suit alleges that thousands of other items have been flagged for removal across a wide range of historic and natural sites. The plaintiffs argue that these actions strip visitors of critical historical context and scientific knowledge. They claim a duty to preserve parks as places where people can learn about the nation’s complex history and the environmental challenges it faces. The coalition of organizations filing suit includes the National Parks Conservation Association, the American Association for State and Local History, the Association of National Park Rangers, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The lawsuit seeks to declare the interior secretary’s directive unlawful and to stop any further removal of historical or scientific material from parks. A separate lawsuit filed the same day by LGBTQ+ rights advocates and preservationists targets the removal of a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York, underscoring the broader conflict over how public spaces represent history and identity.