
CheriAlguire / Depositphotos.com
Theodore Roosevelt National Park visitors are asked to report displays deemed too critical of Americans or that fail to celebrate the landscape, under a new Interior Department directive.
Starting June 13, signs with QR codes are posted across all three park units encouraging tourists to flag content that is “negative about either past or living Americans” or doesn’t highlight “the beauty, grandeur and abundance” of the land, according to a June 9 memo from acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron.
The policy stems from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s implementation of President Trump’s March executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” directing federal agencies to revise interpretive materials to promote American achievement and civic unity. Interpretive materials essentially give historical background, comprehensively covering complex, layered histories that may bring up unsavory aspects of America’s past, like military conflicts with Native tribes and ecological transformation. It’s layered history like this that could now face revision, according to James Miller Jr. of the Dickinson Press.
Park staff must also complete an audit of all exhibits, plaques, and visitor content by July 18. Five former National Park Service directors have criticized the directive, warning it could undermine the agency’s legal mandate to protect parks, by prioritizing politics instead of historical integrity.
The policy applies to all Interior-managed lands nationwide.
Comments