The lawsuit, led by Democracy Forward on behalf of groups including the National Parks Conservation Association, challenges a directive from the Interior Department. The groups say park staff have been ordered to remove or edit materials that discuss slavery, Indigenous displacement, civil rights, and climate change.
The complaint cites examples across the Mountain West. At Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado, a sign describing a family’s “ownership” of enslaved people was flagged. At Glacier National Park in Montana, references to climate change and melting glaciers were removed. And at Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona, exhibits about the forced removal of Native tribes were reportedly taken down.
Other parks in Arizona have also faced scrutiny. At Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, a sign about basalt bubbles was reportedly removed because it showed a visitor holding a pride flag. At Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, materials on grazing, climate change, and endangered species were flagged. And at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, a panel about the Navajo leader Ganado Mucho was also marked for removal.
The White House pushed back, saying it is reviewing American history exhibits and calling the lawsuit “premature” and based on “inaccurate and mischaracterized information.”
Supporters of the lawsuit say national parks are meant to tell the full American story, not a filtered one.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between KUNR, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
