USA/Lawsuits—
Suzanne Potter, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
A coalition of conservation groups, park groups, scientists, and historians filed a lawsuit this week against the Trump administration over censorship at National Park Service sites.
President Donald Trump ordered a review of all signs and educational materials to ensure they focus on natural beauty and grandeur, and to censor factual information that may disparage Americans, past or living.
Purge in National Parks
Kristen Brengel, senior vice president for government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, said staff at Muir Woods, north of San Francisco, recently took down an exhibit on the role of women in protecting the park.
“We’re seeing similar changes being made to parks across the country,” she said, “where either their brochures, exhibits, or signage is being flagged to be changed in order to not tell stories about slavery, climate change, women’s rights, and Indigenous history.”
The Park Service is required by law to present high-quality education and peer-reviewed science. However, the administration is appealing a judicial order requiring Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia to reinstall an exhibit. It depicts the history of the slaves who lived in George Washington’s house. Also, rangers at Acadia National Park in Maine have taken down signs about climate change.
Brengel called it ridiculous to try to bury certain chapters in the nation’s history.
“People like to know what’s going on – not just the wonderful, cute stories,” she pointed out. “They want to know what’s actually happening or what happened in those parks. It just completely defies logic, why you would try to hide certain parts of science and history from our parks.”
The administration ordered signs posted at all sites with a QR code that ask visitors to report so-called “negative information” about past or living Americans. Many people responded with complaints about the policy or compliments about park staff. Meanwhile, the Park Service has lost 4,000 people to layoffs or forced retirements over the past year.
