Interior Department Sued Over National Park Sign Removals (1)

The US Department of Interior and National Park Service are unlawfully censoring national park history and scientific facts disfavored by the Trump administration, a new lawsuit says.

The National Parks Conservation Association, among other groups, claim the agencies have overstepped their statutory authority in removing national park signs that detailed climate threats and memorialized the history of marginalized communities, according to a Tuesday complaint filed to the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The alleged “campaign to erase history and undermine science” started under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum two months after President Donald Trump released his “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order. The March 2025 order aims to overhaul any material at US historical sites that portrays the country as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”

As a result, dozens of signs “detailing the contributions of historically marginalized populations, describing atrocities perpetuated against particular communities, and explaining the long term impact of scientific developments” have been removed from national park sites, the associations claim. These signs included history about slavery, Indigenous groups, industrialization, Japanese internment, the Civil Rights Movement, and more.

“Plaintiffs face inordinate burdens to supplement the resources lost or removed, or mitigate the ensuing harm, as a result of the sustained campaign to erase history and censor science through the Secretary’s Order and its implementation,” the complaint said. “Meanwhile, Plaintiffs’ members who visit individual parks—often a literal once-in-a-lifetime experience—suffer informational, recreational, and aesthetic harms by being deprived of valuable context about the parks.”

The associations argue that the signage removals are arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. The secretary’s order also allegedly overrides four different federal statutes that determine how national parks should be run, all of which emphasize conservation and availability of accurate information.

But the Interior Department took issue with the National Parks Conservation Association’s spending priorities and political donations, according to an emailed statement. “Our parks are nonpartisan, but the NPCA isn’t,” the statement said.

The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief that bars the implementation and enforcement of Burgum’s memo, along with similar guidance made in response to Trump’s executive order.

The Democracy Forward Foundation represents the plaintiffs.

Spokespeople for the National Park Service didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is National Parks Conservation Association et al v. Department of the Interior et al, D. Mass., No. 1:26-cv-10877, complaint filed 2/17/26.