National Park Service Staff Cautious In Reporting Interpretive Materials At Odds With Trump Administration

Should the National Park Service discuss climate-change impacts or the fact that George Washington enslaved more than 100 fellow humans? 

A nationwide campaign by the Trump administration to identify any park signage or materials that "inappropriately disparages Americans past or living" or "perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history" seemingly has created two pathways: one where visitors to the parks have demanded the administration be true to history and climate change, and another where Park Service personnel are being more circumspect in asking the administration to review interpretive materials in the parks.

"Book in the Washington Monument bookstore — discusses him as an enslaver," reads one of the notes Park Service personnel forwarded to the Interior Department for a decision on whether it disparages George Washington.

At Cane River Creole National Historical Park in Louisiana, a park system site that preserves and interprets "two of the most intact Creole cotton plantations in the United States," park staff sought guidance on language in an exhibit that included the names of enslavers and stated that those who escaped the plantation, when captured, "were interrogated, publicly whipped, and returned to their owners."

Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff wondered whether "messaging of climate change and sea level rise reduces the focus on grandeur, beauty, and abundance." The question was spurred by an interpretive placard (top photo) on Ocracoke Island where the seashore's ponies are kept.

Former Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said Tuesday afternoon that the agency shouldn't be in the business of sanitizing history.

"NPS is not here to entertain the public but rather to engage the visitor in thinking and learning about our country’s history and its natural resources. The arbiter in these questions should be scholarly research, not political ideology," Jarvis said in an email to the National Parks Traveler. "While our nation has lofty ideals, we have not always achieved them and our ability to talk about these failures and learn from them is one of the greatest values of our nation. 

"Historians as well as scientists guide NPS interpretation with the facts based upon research. The interpretive panels, books and presentations are based on the most current knowledge such as the evidence of a warming planet due to human activity or that slavery and its spread to new states was the root cause of the Civil War," he added. "There is no way to put a happy face on slavery.  If I was director and a question was raised from the field about wording of a sign, I would suggest they do homework on the history of the text and its scholarly foundation. If I found a set of well-researched references upon which the text is based, I would be prepared to defend the wording against all comers."

Since Trump's inauguration in January his administration has moved to remove certain words and names from the federal landscape that the Republican disagrees with. The president already has told the Park Service to rename Denali at Denali National Park and Preserve to Mount McKinley, and decreed that the Gulf of Mexico should be known as Gulf of America going forward.

The administration also had the Park Service remove the word "transgender" from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City that is dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history.

The Park Service hasn't yet revised all of it web pages to show the Gulf of America, but the response to the administration's request for information that might disparage Americans in the parks shows the agency is aware of the president's concerns and desires.

Staff at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in Florida asked Washington whether they needed to reword an exhibit that discussed the imprisonment of Plains Indian tribes at what was then known as Fort Marion.

"Text of the panel needs review for language referring to tribes having choice of extinction or assimilation. Language of U.S. Government giving the 'choice' of extinction could be considered negative towards the United States," the staff said.

Another concern, raised by park staff at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, questioned whether the former president was disparaged by an exhibit that referred to his paralysis.

At Everglades National Park, staff questioned whether various stories told in the park were "disparaging to the industrialization of America." 

"Because of the impacts that urbanization, agriculture, drainage, and industrialization [brought], Everglades National Park was established because eventually society realized the significance of the ecosystem for being a source of fresh water for agriculture and people inhabiting South Florida and the numerous other resources it provides," the note to Washington said. "This theme can be found throughout the purpose, foundation, and enabling legislation of what established Everglades National Park and is a theme that is commonly found on the waysides, exhibits, publications, and text throughout the park."

While Park Service staff were working to identify areas of possible concern, many visitors to the parks have told Interior Secretary Doug Burgum not to place rose-colored glasses across the parks.

Many of those comments sent to Burgum have voiced support for rangers and disgust for the secretary's initiative asking visitors to point to interpretive signs that disparage "either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features."

"This felonious Administration is the very definition of un-American. The parks belong to us, the people," reads one comment viewed by the Traveler. "We say **** NO to the selling off of public lands. Requesting feedback on 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?' THIS sign is about as un-American as the thing you see in the mirror."

Interior Department staff did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked by email who weighs whether the examples forwarded from parks needed to be changed.