The Trump administration wants to remove from public lands placards and signage that disparage Americans past or living or which contain content that detracts from viewpoints of scenic grandeur/Kurt Repanshek file

Editor's note: This updates with Interior Department comments.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hopes to enlist the public in identifying interpretive materials in the National Park System that disparage Americans past or living or which contain content that detracts from viewpoints of scenic grandeur.

The goal, Burgum said in a secretarial order this past week, is "to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing."

Noting that President Donald Trump earlier this year said that national parks and other federal lands "should accurately reflect American history and not partisan ideology," the Interior secretary directed the Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other land-management agencies in Interior to determine whether the Biden administration "removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history; inappropriately minimized the value of certain historical events or figures; or included any other improper partisan ideology; public monuments, memorials, statues..."

Burgum also told those agencies to ensure that "all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape."

To enlist the public's help in discovering messaging the Trump administration disapproves of, signs will be posted across the federal landscape "to allow for public input as to the state of the property, its management, and its compliance with this Order. Each such sign shall include a QR code that links to a website managed by the land management Bureau, allowing the user to provide a written entry." The signs are to state that:

(Name of property) belongs to the American people, and (name of land management Bureau) wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas of the (park/area, etc. as appropriate) that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement; or (3) 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 order drew criticism from the National Parks Conservation Association, where president and CEO Theresa Pierno said that, "the National Park Service is counted among our country’s greatest storytellers, guiding visitors through America’s complex history of triumph and tragedy alike. As Americans, we have entrusted the brave professionals at the Park Service to tell the truth about the events that shaped our nation at Gettysburg, Birmingham, Stonewall, and beyond. This new order from the Secretary of the Interior instructs land managers to post signs asking visitors to report so-called negative information being shared there about past or living Americans. These signs could have a chilling effect on rangers just trying to do their jobs and tell the truth. When the Trump administration tries to rewrite American history, it is the American people who will suffer most."

Pierno wondered whether "rangers at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument [should] avoid speaking negatively about slavery? Should rangers at Manzanar National Historic Site avoid talking about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II? This new order sets a dangerous precedent of prioritizing nostalgia over truth at our parks. Secretary Burgum should reverse course and rescind this order.” 

Staff at the Interior Department, when asked whether a placard at Minidoka National Historic Site that explains that "10,000 Japanese American victims of war-time hysteria occupied a 950-acre camp, living a bleak, humiliating life in tarpaper barracks, behind barbed wire under armed guard. May these camps serve to remind us what can happen when other factors supersede the constitutional rights guaranteed to all citizens and aliens living in this country" would be removed because it was negative about President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, said Friday that Burgum's order only applied to monuments, markers and memorials erected since January 1, 2020.

"This effort ensures our public lands reflect an accurate portrayal of American history and heritage," said Alyse Sharpe, a senior public affairs specialist at Interior. "We remain committed to preserving the integrity of our nation’s historical legacy for future generations. The Department of the Interior has already begun taking first steps towards implementing this Secretary’s Order.”