This summer, National Park employees and Visitors They were asked to do something very unusual: report any signs that have failed to make America look great. The voltage, successful from Executive From President Donald Trump, it has already resulted in the removal of signs about The horrors of slaveryand Native people’s massacresAnd the threat of climate change, even on land directly in the way of harm.
Consider the National Park in Maine. More dense storms and high seas Steeling to corrosion The original plants were killed along their iconic coast. The warmer temperatures Help spread From a gas insect completely eliminated the red pine trees in the garden. However, earlier this month, Park employees were removed Multiple marks Explanation of how climate change contributed to these changes.
“Reaching this information when you are right, there is a way to see your eyes with what is going on,” said Shelly Bingri, a democratic actress from Maine. The signs that were removed were not only educating visitors about environmental problems – they too Steps specified Visitors can take to reduce their carbon emissions, such as taking a shuttle bus instead of a personal vehicle to visit the famous garden sites.
Trump’s executive order in March, the Interior Department, ordered the removal of descriptions that “disturb Americans or inappropriately living” and focus instead on “the greatness and progress of the American people’s achievements.” He also called for the guidance to focus on “beauty, abundance and greatness of the American scene.” until The elements in national gift stores They were subject to review.
Win McNamee / Getty Images
This is not the first obstacle that Park service in the second Trump term. Because of the federal discounts, I lost the national park service A quarter of its permanent employeesMany of them I worked to keep it Natural types and features in the gardens in the long run. Employees in Akkadia extend very highly, with more than 60 vacancies throughout the year, according to Todd Martin, director of the first program in the northeast to preserve national gardens. The administration also suggested that the Park Service service budget for 2026 was reduced by $ 1.2 billion.
The destruction of these resources, especially while changing the climate of national parks, means that the same beauty that Trump wants to shed light on is the risk of disappearance.
The national parks have improved in Twice From the rest of the country, according to a research from Patrick Gonzalez, formerly the world of climate change in the service of the national park. He said: “The most severe heating occurs in the national parks because the wide areas of the national park system are located in the harsh environments – in the Arctic, in the high heights, and in the arid southwest.”
Some of the name features called the gardens can be lost: Icebergs From Montana’s National Ice Park can fade within decades, Joshua trees It can eventually disappear in Joshua Tree National Park in California, and the most intense forest fires Really out the fifth From the famous California California. Warm temperatures It can hurt Besson residents at Yellowstone National Park, and sea level rise is Reducing habitats Florida tiger in Evergalids.
“We, as a country, worry about the loss of these amazing resources, and people want to know what the park service is doing to keep them alive and make sure they survive after this generation,” said Christine Berngel, Vice President of Government Affairs at the National Association for the Preservation of Gardens. “Hiding this information from the audience is not only what is about the garden service.”
Some signs that show environmental threats came out of the garden service Climate change strategy It was created during the era of President Barack Obama in 2010, which put the focus on communicating the risks of global warming – and what can be done about it – to the public. Explain signs were carefully examined by scientists and other experts to ensure their accuracy before they rose, according to Gonzalez.
The number of these signs will be removed as a result of Trump’s executive order, but many administration has been drawn. Park officials in Great Smoky Mountins National ParkOn the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, I put a sign on a plate explaining how fossil fuels cause air pollution that harms plants and animals. in Evergelides National ParkOne of the employees indicated that the signs of agriculture and urban development that harm the land “can be conceived as underestimating the development of America’s industrial.” At the same time, in Cape Hattras National Sea Beach On external banks in North Carolina, one of the employees asked whether there was a sign of sea level height that threatens the homeland of Ocrackeke “reduces focus on greatness, beauty and abundance.”
Other environmental information has already disappeared from the garden marks. In July, Mawir Woods was removed in northern California “History is under construction” This added the historical and cultural context to its current banners. the New information Interpretations on how to keep the Miwok and Soutering Pomo Peoples Coast for several centuries through cultural burns, as well as informing visitors that the portford of the portfolio, who worked to maintain Muir Woods, has also promoted the eagle.
Jace Ritchey / National Park Service
Park Bringles service staff to ask to report their signs and control their murderous signs. “They destroyed,” she said. I heard that some parks were told not to remove any other signs because of “bad advertising”, and also that many gardens West Mississippi were asked to continue to put signs of compliance with the guidance.
“This has not ended,” said Brangel. “They are planning to monitor more gardens. It’s just a matter of time at this point.”
None of the national parks contacted on the signs related to the environment that were removed or marked for review, or postponed it to the Ministry of Interior or the national park service. (National Garden employees were told not to speak to journalists, as GRIT sources told.
“Thanks to President Donald Trump, it guarantees that the American people no longer feed on the lies of the new fake green fraud,” Aubbari Sibadi, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, said in a statement. “The content has been downloaded because this administration only believes in managing facts based on the real science of the American public, and not the not intelligent speech is used to steal taxpayers.”
“The President directed federal agencies to review explanatory materials to ensure accuracy, honesty and compatibility with common national values.”
Signal removal processes are part of a larger pattern to hide information about climate change from general display. During his second term, Trump launched an attack on climate science, deleting climate reports, reducing financing for climate research, and ending a program to track greenhouse gas emissions in the country. The language related to the changing climate has disappeared from federal web sites, including the entire pages around it On Service Park.
In response, scientists, academics and other volunteers have worked to save the data that is lost and try to do so Make it available For the public to find again.
“Negative” stories in National Parks motivated another such initiative, called “Keep our signs“The aim of this is to obtain pictures of signs from national services sites throughout the country to create a group that can be reached before.
Politicians also retreat. Last week, Pingree and dozens of actors A message signed To the director of the National Park Service Jessica Bowron condemns the removal of historical marks and the request for detailed information about all the signs that have been marked by violations, change or remove them.
McBurney said that the Save Ambors project still accepts the images, although it has already seen a support flow. “You can only know that people really care about our gardens, and they want to make sure to keep this important information.”