The National Park Service Removed 51 Historical Signs. Court Filings Show at Least 13 Were Thrown Away.
In September 2025, National Park Service (NPS) employees began removing signs, exhibits, films, and books about climate change, slavery, and the killing of Native Americans from dozens of agency-managed sites.
Recent court filings show that, amid that process, at least 13 items were destroyed or lost.
This revelation is illustrated in a NPS spreadsheet that was made public on June 17 by a court order. The spreadsheet lists 51 items that were removed from 24 Park Service sites. Thirty-six removed displays are still housed in storage at their respective parks, while the locations of two others in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska and Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. are unknown.
Former NPS ranger Melissa Dalley has been traveling the country since April, documenting signs that she’s personally seen removed. Dalley, 49, has been cross-referencing her records against the spreadsheet, as well as an internal database that was published in March. She told Outside that she believes the NPS removed more signs than the number listed in the document.
“[The spreadsheet] is by no means complete,” Dalley said. “There is a lot of information that you can find online or in books, but also there is some information that only exists on that sign at that park.”
Outside has repeatedly asked the Department of Interior (DOI) for a catalog of the removed signs and an explanation as to what happened to them. The DOI did responded to our most recent request for comment.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review how the country’s past is presented at 433 NPS-managed sites. Secretarial Order 3431 followed in May of that year, requiring the agency to remove anything that “inappropriately disparage[s] Americans past or living” and to emphasize instead the beauty and grandeur of the landscape.
A coalition of nonprofit groups sued the federal government in early 2026, requesting that the NPS restore the signs. The lawsuit kicked off an ongoing battle in court.
The post The National Park Service Removed 51 Historical Signs. Court Filings Show at Least 13 Were Thrown Away. appeared first on Outside Online.
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