A plain-language summary of the removal of history and science from America's parks, and the fight to put it back. Start here if you are new.
Removals can continue. The only nationwide order to restore removed signs has been on hold since July 2, 2026.
A federal judge in Boston ordered everything restored by July 3. The First Circuit paused that order while it hears the government's appeal, without deciding whether the removals are legal. The case is still moving in the trial court.
874
Items flagged for review
Leaked NPS database
47
Marked replace or remove
Our database
102+
Censored signs at 41 sites
Save Our Signs tracker
20
Thrown away
NPS court filing, June 17
1
Court-restored site
Stonewall
The four fronts Updated weekly from tracked coverage
In the courts3 cases · 2 records suits
Mixed
Latest · Aug 18, 2026The Third Circuit denied Philadelphia a rehearing on the President's House exhibit; only a Supreme Court petition remains. The nationwide restoration order in NPCA v. Interior has been paused since July 2, but Judge Kelley is keeping that case on schedule. Stonewall's flag stays up under the April settlement.
Next to watchFirst Circuit decision on the government's appeal of the June 12 order.
In Congress1 bill · 2 funding letters
Holding
Latest · Sep 19, 2026Congress rejected the proposed 37% Park Service cut and passed a 2% reduction. The Truth in National Parks Act (H.R. 8539) is still in House Natural Resources. Fifty-three House Democrats and two senators want FY2027 language barring funds for SO 3431. source
Next to watchFY2027 Interior appropriations bill text; the administration asked for a 32% cut.
Interior & the Park ServicePolicy, staffing, partners
Worsening
Latest · Sep 30, 2026Interior disapproved more than 130 partner-run projects worth at least $25 million. The Park Service has lost 24% of its permanent staff since January 2025. A reorganization that strips authority from experienced park officials is underway. source
Next to watchWhether blocked partner work (Death Valley cultural resources, Zion digitization) is reinstated.
In the parksSigns, exhibits, films
Mixed
Latest · Sep 26, 2026Acadia's climate-change signs, removed in September 2025, are still down; a few messages reappeared after the June court order before the appeals court paused it. Fort Sumter's rising-seas sign went back up September 14. Court filings show at least 13 removed items were thrown away, and the agency admits its own list is incomplete. source
Next to watchSave Our Signs photo coverage of the 24 sites named in the NPS spreadsheet.
The cases Status pills updated weekly
Stonewall Pride flag · Gilbert Baker Foundation v. Interior
S.D.N.Y. · Lambda Legal
Won
Settled April 13, 2026. A court-enforceable agreement requires the Park Service to keep the Pride flag flying at Stonewall National Monument. The flag was back within a week. Still the only outright win against Secretary's Order 3431.
NPCA v. Department of the Interior
D. Mass. (Judge Kelley) · appeal in the First Circuit · Democracy Forward for six plaintiff groups
Injunction paused
June 12: nationwide order to restore removed materials within 21 days. July 2: the First Circuit stayed that order pending appeal, finding the groups had not shown irreparable harm to themselves. It did not rule on whether SO 3431 is lawful. August 7: Judge Kelley declined to freeze the trial-court schedule, so the case continues on the merits.
Next: First Circuit decision on the appeal; summary-judgment briefing in Boston.
City of Philadelphia v. Burgum · President's House
E.D. Pa. (Judge Rufe) · Third Circuit
Reversed
June 18: a unanimous Third Circuit panel threw out the February order that had restored the slavery panels. July 13: four of the city's five claims dismissed. July 14–15: the administration installed its own panels overnight, moving the stories of the nine people Washington enslaved to the rear of the site. August 18: rehearing denied.
Left: a petition to the Supreme Court, and one breach-of-agreement claim still alive in the trial court.
Sierra Club FOIA litigation
Records requests and suit against Interior
Ongoing
Three document batches so far, including the order telling the Fish and Wildlife Service to alter materials about Indigenous peoples at 100+ refuges, and the 35,700 visitor comments this site analyzes on the Voices page.
PEER FOIA suit
D.D.C. · filed June 17, 2026
Filed
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued after Interior refused records on SO 3431 across the Park Service, Fish and Wildlife, BLM, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Reclamation.
Deeper reading: the Legal page explains each case's claims and standing questions, and the Timeline lists every dated milestone.
This week Auto-written weekly from tracked coverage
Where the Fight Stands
The Interior Department has disapproved more than 130 partner-run park projects worth at least $25 million as misaligned with administration priorities, internal National Park Service records obtained by KUNC revealed on September 30. The blocked agreements include cultural-resource work at Death Valley and museum digitization at Zion, with the Great Basin Institute alone having 78 projects worth $12.7 million disapproved or left in limbo. The systematic obstruction of third-party conservation work compounds the agency’s operational collapse, coming just weeks after a CNN investigation documented that NPS has lost more than 24% of its permanent workforce since January 2025, even as Congress rejected the administration’s proposed $1.2 billion cut—a historic 37% decrease—and provided only a 2% reduction. The administration’s spending decisions have not translated into staffing or partner support, leaving parks struggling with severe personnel shortages as ideological directives choke off collaborative research and preservation.
The partner-project blockade intensifies ongoing battles over interpretive content, as librarians and archivists race to digitally preserve national park signs about women and LGBTQ+ history that have been revised or destroyed under administration orders, including language describing a massacre of Blackfeet women and children at Grand Teton National Park. The Interior Department removed climate change signage from Acadia National Park in September 2025, with spokesperson Aubrie Spady dismissing the removed materials as “brainless fear-mongering rhetoric” rather than “real science.” Meanwhile, a coalition including NPCA, DC Preservation League, and the National Mall Coalition filed for a preliminary injunction in early September to halt unauthorized construction at West Potomac Park, where the administration seeks to transform park land into a massive sculpture garden complex. The Sierra Club obtained documents on September 23 revealing a secretive reorganization plan that would strip authority from experienced park officials, suggesting the workforce and partnership crises are features of a broader strategy to hollow out the agency’s institutional capacity and reshape what the Park Service protects and tells.
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Ten minutes writes to Congress. A day photographs a park before more signs disappear.