The signage went up at National Parks sites nationwide per executive order, but Colorado’s Amache and Sand Creek descendants want history preserved and area among those pushing back.. KOAA.Com
Outside Magazine: New messaging posted at U.S. national parks and historic sites is requesting that park visitors report “any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans.”
From the Beacon: “This effort reaffirms the NPS mission by emphasizing the importance of accuracy in how we tell stories of American history,” Jennie Vasarhely, chief of interpretation, education and visitor services said. “Our visitors come to national parks to celebrate the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of America’s landscapes and extraordinary multicultural heritage. This allows them to personally connect with these special places, free of any partisan ideology. ”
Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, called the order an attempt to rewrite American history. “Rangers should be able to talk about the history of Japanese American incarceration at Amache, or the history of slavery at Fort Monroe, without looking over their shoulders in fear,” Pierno said in a press release. “If our country erases the darker chapters of our history, we will never learn from our mistakes. These signs must come down immediately.”
Doug Burgum, Secretary if the Interior, ordered the leaders of the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Reclamation to post such signage “throughout each property, in as many locations within each property as necessary and appropriate to ensure public awareness.”
The order also requires that within 120 days, every department remove any information that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living.” The implementation of this order obviously will hinge on each park manager’s interpretation of the word “inappropriately.”
Akron Beacon Journal, reporting about the signs posted at popular Cuyahoga Valley National Park, writes: “Critics of the signs, including the National Parks Conservation Association, have called the signs “chilling.” They were put up as a result of President Trump’s executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” at national parks and federal sites. The EO was issued March 27, 2025.
Among the directives is a look at any name changes or monuments or exhibits that may have been removed from national parks or federal sites since 2000.
