Outside Magazine’s list of NPS signs altered by the Trump Administration
At stake is not just signage, but stewardship: national parks are meant to preserve both landscapes and the historical record. The lawsuit now asks whether history can be revised by executive order.
A March 2025 Trump executive order that instructed our national parks to ignore or attempt to change history has sparked a chain reaction of stupidity.
Democracy Forward, a coalition of historians, scientists, and advocacy groups, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the Trump administration directed the removal or flagging of dozens of interpretive signs at National Park Service sites nationwide. The removals include displays addressing slavery, civil rights, Indigenous history, and climate change… all things the current administration wants to sweep under the rug. Outside Magazine offers a list of such changes:
California
Muir Woods in Golden Gate National Park: NPS reportedly altered or removed an exhibit titled “History Under Construction.” The 2021 installation annotated an existing sign with sticky notes that provided previously omitted content on Indigenous history, the role of NPS staff in eugenics movements, and the role of women at Muir Woods.
Death Valley National Park: The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe requested that an exhibit be placed that included the phrases, “these are our homelands” and “we are still here.” The request was to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Homeland Act, which transferred nearly 7,800 acres to the Tribe. NPS reportedly placed the request under review.
Colorado
Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site: A sign that reportedly described a family’s “ownership” of enslaved people, as well as content that spoke of the forced removal of a Native Tribe, was flagged for removal or taken down.
At stake is not just signage, but stewardship: national parks are meant to preserve both landscapes and the historical record. The lawsuit now asks whether history can be revised by executive order.