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More history exhibits pulled from national parks, including Grand Canyon

Trump officials have ordered national parks to remove dozens of signs and displays related to climate change, environmental protection and settlers’ mistreatment of Native Americans in a renewed push to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order on “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”

Park staff have interpreted Trump’s directive - which seeks to scrub federal institutions of what it calls “partisan ideology” and remove any content deemed to “disparage Americans past or living” - to include any references to historic racism and sexism, as well as climate change and LGBTQ rights. Last week, that included the removal of an exhibit at Independence National Historical Park that focused on George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people.

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In a new wave of orders this month, Trump officials instructed staff to remove or edit signs and other informational materials in at least 17 additional parks in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents also listed some removals ordered in August and September of last year.

The Interior Department said in a statement that it was implementing Trump’s executive order.

“All federal agencies are to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values,” the statement said. “Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking appropriate action in accordance with the Order.”

Among the national parks targeted in the new removal orders are some of the country’s most iconic: Grand Canyon, Glacier, Big Bend and Zion.

The removal orders include descriptions of how climate change is driving the disappearance of the glaciers at Glacier National Park and a wayside display at the Grand Canyon referring to the forced removal of Native Americans.

The administration’s broad attempt to suppress true stories “should offend every American,” said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Brengel emphasized that Park Service staffers are acting on administration orders. “Everyone understands this history,” she said. “It’s not debatable, but they’re being forced to select stories because they think the administration will threaten their jobs if they don’t.”

Here are details on some of the changes being ordered at national parks.

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Grand Canyon National Park

Staff at a Grand Canyon visitor center in Arizona removed part of an exhibit after flagging potentially problematic passages to the national park system’s leadership in D.C., according to documentation reviewed by The Post.

The passages included text stating that settlers “exploited land for mining and grazing” and that federal officials “pushed tribes off their land” to establish the park.

The park also removed references to cattle ranchers “carelessly overgrazing” the land, tourists “foolishly” leaving trash in the park, and entrepreneurs who “profited excessively” from tourism.

Trump officials have yet to take action on several other items, including a video about Native American history.

Park staff suggested fixes that would remove a reference to a federal policy that prevented Native Americans from using body and face paint, as well as references to their ancestors’ “misery, suffering” and “loss.”

Roadside displays on climate change, pollution and mining were also flagged for possible removal.

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Glacier National Park

In response to frequent inquiries from visitors about the potential disappearance of the famous glaciers at Montana’s Glacier National Park, staff created signs and other resources to answer those questions, said Jeff Mow, who retired as superintendent of the park in 2022.

The administration flagged one brochure for removal or changes that shows images of glaciers retreating and explains that human-caused climate change is a factor in their likely future disappearance. A video that refers to the disappearance of the glaciers was also ordered removed or changed.

Also flagged was a sign at the park’s gift shop that says: “Climate Change Affects National Parks and the Treasures They Protect.”

“We’re whitewashing or we’re taking out all those sort of not-so-nice stories that have occurred in our nation’s history,” Mow said.

Another informational display to be removed or changed describes the park’s issues with air pollution. The administration paused air quality monitoring at national parks last year.

Other signs talk about the increasing fire risk at the park, as well as a nearby dam that “flooded two lakes within the park.”

“As the nation’s storyteller of natural and cultural history, the National Park Service takes great pride” in telling these stories, Mow said. “This process of being edited - it’s like taking a torpedo in the bow.”

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Big Bend National Park

The signs slated for removal at Big Bend National Park along the Texas-Mexico border do not reference the topics, such as climate or Native American history, that have typically attracted the attention of Trump officials.

Instead, of the nearly 20 signs flagged for not conforming with the new policy, many deal with geology, prehistoric history, fossils and other seemingly uncontroversial scientific or historical topics. The removal orders do not spell out what’s wrong with the signs.

Some of the displays are bilingual in Spanish and English, while others talk about cooperating with Mexico on modern preservation efforts.

Big Bend’s submission for the administration’s review says, “These wayside exhibits describe natural features, but emphasize ‘matters unrelated to the beauty, abundance, or grandeur of said natural feature.’” Although it flagged the materials for review, the park said it did “not advocate changing these wayside exhibits.”

Even so, Trump officials decided the displays failed to conform with administration policy and ordered them changed or removed.

“This is not something that the National Park Service should be blamed for,” said Bob Krumenaker, superintendent of Big Bend until 2023. “They are being told they have to do these things. And my hope is they’re saving these exhibits for when things change so they can put them back up.”

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Other parks

The administration also targeted less famous parks. One sign slated for removal at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in Colorado described key figures in the site’s history and included references to the forced removal of a Native tribe, a family’s slave ownership, and another historic figure who had a miscarriage.

At Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Arizona, a panel on Ganado Mucho, a Navajo leader known for settling disputes with ranchers is also listed for changes or removal.

The documentation reviewed by The Post also included new details on removals and changes that were ordered last year.

At Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, descriptions of destructive grazing practices and the accelerating rate of warming since 1850, as well as a booklet that talks about endangered turtles and Sonoran pronghorn, were ordered changed or removed.

Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming was ordered to remove or change a panel about Gustavus Cheyney Doane that said he participated in the U.S. Army massacre of Piegan Blackfeet Native Americans, including women, children and the elderly.

At Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana, exhibit text that described the United States being “hungry for gold and land” and breaking promises to Native Americans was ordered changed or removed.

Another text describing how U.S.-run boarding schools for Indigenous children “violently erased cultural identities and language” was also deemed not to comply with Trump’s policy.

Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association said the Trump administration’s efforts to sanitize American history runs counter to the mission of the park system.

“We are capable of hearing about our tragedies and our victories, and this systematic erasure should concern everyone in our country,” she said.