In February, national parks across the country were walloped by federal budget cuts and mass layoffs — at a time when the national parks were more popular than ever.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Park Service saw a 13% reduction in full-time staff in the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
In March, two federal judges, in tandem with the Merit Systems Protection Board, determined that the firings were illegal and ordered that 1,000 staff members be reinstated.
But the damage had been done.
“Some [rangers] may not be able to afford to travel back to their jobs,” Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, told The Daily Beacon this spring. “And some might decide they don’t want to work any longer for the federal government, given the way they were treated.”
For the park employees who remained — or returned — the federal budget cuts have had lingering consequences on the National Park Service. Maintenance projects have been deferred, student field trips have been cut, and new credit limits have been imposed.
“Several weeks ago, with almost no warning, a limit was placed on the use of government credit card purchases, capping the charge limit at $1 — that’s correct — $1,” Rick Mossman — president of the Association of National Park Rangers — said in April, explaining that park rangers once used the government-issued cards to pay for toilet paper and maintenance tools.
Then came the signs.
The memo from the U.S. Department of the Interior reads: “[This national park site] belongs to the American people, and the National Park Service wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have (1) any areas 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 fails to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
The signs then invite visitors to visit a website or scan a QR code, which brings them to a feedback form to report “negative” history.
The signs were issued by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in support of President Trump’s Executive Order 14523, which is titled: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
The order, issued in March, claimed that a “revisionist movement” was “replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
According to NPCA president Theresa Pierno, the signs, which were installed in all 433 national park sites, “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 warned in a statement.
“Should rangers at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument avoid speaking negatively about slavery?” she asked. “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.”
Fortunately, despite Pierno’s concerns — and the administration’s intentions — the new signs, which activists have nicknamed “snitch signs,” had the opposite effect.
Recently, Forbes reviewed screenshots of 274 comments submitted through the feedback site between June 5 to 19 of this year. They found that the vast majority of visitors used the forms to praise park programs, rangers, tour guides, and more.
“The staff at Valley Forge do an excellent job of interpreting the history of the encampment … I hope they stay funded and well-staffed to continue this important work,” a visitor submitted to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“[I] was really happy to see that the Visitor Center had enough staff because it was busy!” one visitor, at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts, commented. “I really hope that DOGE doesn’t cut additional funding or staff … it’s an amazing place!”
“The park rangers and volunteers at Catoctin are fantastic and go above and beyond to tell the full American story,” one visitor commented from the Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.
“Placing the nation’s full trust in their knowledge and expertise is the only way that the NPS’s mission of preserving this nation’s natural, cultural, and historic resources for current and future generations will be fulfilled.”
Other visitors made direct reference to concerns of whitewashing park histories.
According to Forbes, a visitor to the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama said the park does “an incredible job of portraying the complicated and dark history of the civil rights movement in a way that is needed for the education of us all.”
And in Alaska’s Denali National Park, many visitors used the feedback form to criticize Trump’s decision to rename Mount Denali “Mount McKinley.”
“You cannot erase indigenous stories,” one passionate comment read.
“My heart hurts knowing that the families and adventurers visiting this special park will be forced to bear witness to revisionist history as part of a pathetic attempt at signaling power.”
NPCA associate director Kyle Groetzinger pointed out that the signs had inadvertently created the perfect portal for people to “band together” and show their support for the national parks during an unpredictable time.
For prospective park visitors, Groetzinger even offered a script:
“This is a message for the Trump administration: Hands off our history. The rangers at this National Park are doing a great job. They are providing an essential service, protecting our history and beautiful natural landscapes for future generations. Instead of undermining them, you should support them.”
“Let’s seize this opportunity to speak out and tell the Department of the Interior to support our rangers and stop trying to rewrite American history,” Groetzinger encouraged. “Make them hear you.”
You may also like: The first-ever National Parks Edition of The Goodnewspaper
Header image via National Parks Gallery (PDM 1.0)
