An Executive Order by President Donald Trump instructing the National Park Service staff to review signage and educational materials at all national parks and properties, leading to reports that certain displays and signage have been removed, has been challenged in court by multiple organizations, including a national organization tasked with conserving parks for more than a century.

Displays at properties in 21 states have been affected by the order, including Wyoming and Montana. Wyoming has faced a single reported order; instructing Grand Teton National Park to remove a sign explaining the history of early Yellowstone expedition member Gustavus Cheyney Doane, who participated in a massacre of Native Americans. According to historians, Doane’s report from Wyoming contributed to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park.

In Montana, at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, two displays were flagged for noncompliance and were instructed to be removed: a display revealing the history of broken promises and treaties made to tribes by the federal government; and of the struggles American Indians faced through Federal Indian Boarding Schools.

The U.S. government signed more than 370 treaties with tribes between 1778 and 1871, many of them relieving tribes of their land. Few promises made in treaties were kept, and about half of all treaties signed with tribes were never ratified by Congress.

Beginning with an Executive Order on March 27, 2025, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” national museums, parks, properties and battlefields have seen changes dictated by the administration as they instruct the National Park Service staff to review signage and educational materials at all national parks, and censor factual information that “disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times)” or emphasizes matters unrelated to the beauty, abundance, or grandeur of natural features.

“It is the policy of my Administration 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,” Trump said in the order.

Director of the Department of the Interior Doug Burgum then penned Secretarial Order 3431, directing the Department of the Interior to revise public-facing content, exhibits, and educational programs at national parks and monuments to focus on “traditional” American history. Implementing Trump’s Order, the Department aims to remove what the administration deems “ideological bias.”

Government says claims inaccurate

When contacted by the Tribune, the Department of the Interior’s office of communication disputed the removal of displays flagged for removal as nothing more than a mischaracterization by those reporting the news, saying “claims that parks are erasing history or removing signs wholesale are inaccurate.” They are the only federally authorized entity willing to speak on the issue as individual park officials and employees refuse to answer questions about action taken by the administration.

“Recent media reports have inaccurately linked routine sign maintenance and interpretive updates to Secretary’s Order 3431,” the office replied via email. “Parks regularly remove or replace signs that are damaged, weathered, or outdated, and those actions are unrelated to the order.”

The office did say that separately, the order directed a review of certain interpretive content to ensure parks “tell the full and accurate story of American history, including subjects that were minimized or omitted under the last administration.”

That includes fully addressing slavery, the treatment of Native Americans, and other foundational chapters of our history, informed by current scholarship and expert review, and “not through a narrow ideological lens,” the statement said.

“Some materials may be edited or replaced to provide broader context, others may remain unchanged, and some removals being cited publicly had nothing to do with [the order] at all.”

Reactions to removals

As news of displays being removed from properties were first reported, many displays flagged by the federal government were removed without warning, leading to lawsuits from several organizations.

The National Parks Conservation Association, which was founded in 1919, teamed up with the Association of National Park Rangers, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, the American Association for State and Local History, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Society for Experiential Graphic Design to sue to overturn the orders. The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public education, and regulatory engagement.

“Visitors deserve the full picture of history at America’s national parks, as well as key information about climate change, pollution, development, and other environmental threats to these iconic places,” according to the association.

Also, in response to the changes at Little Bighorn Battlefield, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council in early February voted 11-0 to adopt a resolution to prevent changes to, or removals of, Native American markers, monuments, and signage at the battlefield and opposing any change to the current inscriptions that describes broken promises to Native American tribes and references to the loss of indigenous culture and language caused by federal boarding school system.

The resolution also authorizes consultation with the federal government regarding the matter. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe will appeal to members of the Montana Delegation and consult other agencies to prevent any adverse changes or removals of Native American recognition at the battlefield, the resolution stated.

“A long time ago we were enemies. Today we are friends.” Northern Cheyenne Vice President Ernest Littlemouth, the tribe’s designated official for the 150th battle anniversary events stated: “This attempt to change or remove tribal markers and monuments dims the light of the healing and progress we have all made.”

Others close to the situation have also been raising awareness.

“It’s disturbing, disgusting and wrong,” Keianna Cachora, an employee at the Custer Battlefield Trading Post, told local television reporter at KTVQ. “You should not erase other people’s history because it makes you uncomfortable.”

There have been two significant changes at Little Bighorn Battlefield prior to Trump’s Executive Order, starting with a name change in 1991; from Custer Battlefield National Monument to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, in an effort to recognize the warriors on both sides of the battle.

Then in 1999, the National Park Service property broke ground on a monument to honor the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors who fought to defend their way of life. The monument, called “Peace Through Unity,” was dedicated in 2003, but the granite walls weren’t permanently engraved with the final, specific inscriptions until the fall of 2013.

At Glacier National Park, the Service removed interpretive materials noting how climate change is affecting the park and driving the disappearance of its glaciers.

Lawsuits have been working to at least temporarily rollback decisions, made on flagged displays. The City of Philadelphia sued the administration after an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington was torn down in January at the first president’s former home in the City of Brotherly Love while Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.

On Feb. 16, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe ruled that all materials must be restored in their original condition while a lawsuit challenging the legality of government’s action plays out. She also prohibited federal officials from making changes to the display without mutual agreement from the city.

The President George W. Bush appointee quote from George Orwell’s “1984,” comparing the actions by the Trump administration to the novel’s Ministry of Truth, which revised historical records to align with its own narrative.

“As if the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984 now existed, with its motto ‘Ignorance is Strength,’ this Court is now asked to determine whether the federal government has the power it claims — to dissemble and disassemble historical truths when it has some domain over historical facts,” Rufe stated in her decision. “It does not.”