In March of 2025, President Trump issued an executive order demanding the insertion of his own bigoted views into American history. Called “RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORY” (in all caps, because screaming makes your point better, apparently), the order drips with projection–claiming that accurate and well-researched history is “a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” In fact, the distorted narrative is the one the Trump Administration is peddling.
To carry out this order, in early June the Administration’s leadership in the US Department of the Interior ordered all US national parks to post signs calling for comments from park visitors. The signage asks visitors to report to the Administration “any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
The intent of these signs is clear: to prevent accurate history and science from being shared with national park visitors.
The signs are meant to silence National Park Service (NPS) staff out of fear of losing their jobs. But one brave NPS employee showed us what visitors are actually telling the Administration about national parks.
The signs posted in national parks feature a QR code which visitors can scan, sending their public comments directly to the Administration. According to NPR, an anonymous NPS employee photographed several pages of these comments and released them to park advocacy groups. Here’s what they said.
Instead of advocating for the removal of accurate or “negative” history from national parks, every one of the dozens of released comments was supportive of parks and their telling of history. Some even called for more focus on the stories of marginalized groups and their important contributions to American history. Not one comment criticised the parks, park staff, or their framing of American history.
The Trump Administration is learning a truth that will shock no one who has ever worked at a national park: visitors come to national parks because they love national parks. They visit national historical parks because they love history and they love national parks. They read park signs and attend ranger programs because they trust the parks and their staff to relay accurate information.
If the aim of these signs is to sew mistrust in visitors’ minds about the accuracy of park information and staff, then it is failing.
NPS visitors are showing us all a way to thwart this attempt at silencing accurate historic and scientific information. The Administration claims they are reviewing all the comments brought in by these signs, so flood them with messages of love for parks and history and science. They want to silence us, so let them hear our voices.
Want to show your support for US national parks during these challenging times? Check out our essay about ways to parks.
Interested in learning more about why Trump is trying to rewrite history? Read our essay about his efforts to take down America’s historical and cultural parks.