BOSTON – A coalition of organizations committed to protecting America’s national parks, preserving and sharing history, promoting scientific literacy and access, and providing high-quality interpretive materials united today to challenge a new U.S. Department of the Interior policy that is actively erasing history and science from America’s largest classroom – our national parks.
In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the rewriting and sanitization of American history and science at national parks. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum followed suit on May 20, issuing a secretary’s order that launched the implementation of the president’s directive within the National Park Service (NPS). These orders have forced NPS staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge.
This campaign by the Trump-Vance administration has escalated in recent weeks, leading to the removal of many exhibits that discuss the history of slavery and enslaved people, civil rights, treatment of Indigenous peoples, climate science, and other core elements of the American experience. Some examples of how censorship is affecting parks, history and science at locations across the country are available here.
The coalition challenging the censorship policy’s implementation includes the National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Society for Experiential Graphic Design, and Union of Concerned Scientists. The coalition is represented in the matter by Democracy Forward.
“In filing this litigation together, we are taking a stand for the soul of our national parks. Censoring science and erasing America’s history at national parks are direct threats to everything these amazing places, and our country, stand for. National parks serve as living classrooms for our country, where science and history come to life for visitors. We the people deserve and demand a national park system that tells true stories of Black communities, Indigenous tribes, and countless other fascinating chapters of our history. As Americans, we deserve national parks that tell stories of our country’s triumphs and heartbreaks alike. We can handle the truth,” said Alan Spears, National Parks Conservation Association Senior Director of Cultural Resources. “The National Parks Conservation Association was established more than one hundred years ago as the fearless and outspoken nonpartisan voice for America’s national parks, and we will not sit on the sidelines in this pivotal fight. We will not watch idly as the Department of the Interior distorts accurate, inclusive storytelling at national parks. We will see the administration in court.”
“National Park Service sites make up a crucial segment of the nation’s 21,000 history organizations, which serve as trusted sources of education and connection for millions of Americans. These unlawful federal orders are hindering the important work of history organizations nationwide and robbing the public of access to a more complete and honest American story. An accurate, broadly shared understanding of our past—one driven by best practices in historical scholarship and interpretation—is essential to the ongoing health of our democracy. We are in court to defend the American people’s ability to meaningfully learn about the past as part of our society’s collective work towards a brighter future,” said John R. Dichtl, President & CEO of the American Association for State and Local History.
“Our members, current and former employees of the National Park Service, have worked for decades to tell true and accurate stories to the visitors of national parks,” said Bill Wade, Executive Director of the Association of National Park Rangers. “To deprive visitors of those stories, even those we should no longer be proud of, and to give them incomplete information is unthinkable. We want to see this ‘erasure and sanitizing’ of history and science halted and the damage already done repaired.”
“National parks have a sacred mandate: to preserve and interpret the full breadth of the American experience, the good and the bad,” said Emily Thompson, Executive Director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. “Visitors come not just to witness awe-inspiring landscapes, but to confront the complex, often painful tapestry of our history and our world — the triumphs and the failings. National parks are not propaganda tools nor should they be used for partisan purposes. They exist to preserve and interpret the full American story, not just the parts that make some politicians comfortable. Erasing history doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it more likely to repeat itself. And harkens back to some very dark and dangerous times in world history.”
“America’s national parks connect people to place by presenting the breadth of our nation’s history and science through a careful, collaborative process. The interpretive signs, panels, and exhibits visitors encounter are developed over months and often years through research, peer review, and coordination among historians, scientists, educators, interpretive planners, designers, and accessibility experts. Every word and image is vetted to ensure authenticity and clarity. This disciplined approach reflects democratic values of scholarship, accountability, and public service, and it has set the professional standard for cultural and historical institutions nationwide. Generations of Americans have come to rely on that integrity. To alter or remove interpretive materials without the same scholarly rigor and professional review compromises the integrity of the historical record and the public’s right to a full account of our shared past,” said Cybelle Jones, CEO, Society for Experiential Graphic Design.
“The public deserves access to reliable scientific information on climate change from its government,” said Dr. Gretchen Goldman, President and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Such censorship by the Trump administration is not only bullying behavior designed to instill a culture of fear and keep the public in the dark; it violates the law. Iconic landscapes and cultural heritage sites across the country are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Ignoring the science and data won’t pause climate change and will instead leave our historical and cultural treasures in peril. The scientific community has never been one to walk away from a challenging problem. In fact, we pursue them. Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists is joining in the pursuit of holding this anti-science administration accountable in the courts.”
The NPS is one of the country’s largest storytellers of American history, teaching millions of visitors about a wide variety of stories at more than 430 national park sites throughout the United States. Congress has repeatedly established that national parks are intended for the benefit and enjoyment of all, and Congress has been clear that no action may be taken “in derogation of” this purpose, “except as directly and specifically provided by Congress.” The often conflicting, contradictory and confusing statements issued by the Interior Department in an attempt to implement the president’s censorship directive, about what materials at parks are under review and what signs, films, books, or brochures must be removed, make clear that the department ignored well-established principles and legal requirements when seeking to censor information at national parks. The lawsuit challenges the arbitrary and capricious manner in which the policy is being implemented, a clear violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The unlawful implementation of the president’s executive order ignores the unique role national parks play in educating people about the history of the United States, as well as the impact of environmental developments on national treasures, and contradicts the laws creating the national park system, service and otherwise governing national parks.
“America’s national parks are a living classroom, telling the stories of sacrifice, perseverance, and hope so that every visitor can learn our history and the world around us,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “You cannot tell the story of America without recognizing both the beauty and the tragedy of our history. You cannot truly love America without understanding our country’s true history and what it teaches about the country we must work together to build and the country that we can be. The president’s effort to erase history and science in our national parks violates federal law, and is a disgrace that neither honors our country’s legacy nor its future. Democracy Forward is honored to work with these organizations, each committed to telling America’s story, to hold the administration accountable and protect the benefits national parks offer all who visit.”
The case is National Parks Conservation Association et. al. v. Department of the Interior, et. al. and the legal team at Democracy Forward working on the case includes Brooke Menschel, Mark Samburg, Michael Torcello, Pablo Moraga, Steven Bressler, and Robin Thurston.
Read today’s filing here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.
