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By Jasmine Laws
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The Department of the Interior has hit back after a coalition of organizations filed a lawsuit against it following the removal of certain exhibits and signs from national parks.
These organizations included the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), which is being represented by the nonprofit public policy research organization Democracy Forward.
On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, and the Interior Department was directed, under Secretary's Order 3431, to review monuments and exhibits in the parks to ensure they "remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage."
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The review has resulted in the removal of a number of notable exhibits and signs that covered issues such as climate change, sea level rise, LGBTQ rights, slavery and racism—content the Interior Department deemed "concerning."
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior told Newsweek, "Our parks are nonpartisan, but the NPCA isn't." They added, "Secretary Order 3431 directed a review of certain interpretive content to ensure parks tell the full and accurate story of American history."
Why It Matters
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration has implemented national park initiatives that have proved divisive—with critics and some lawmakers accusing the government of historical erasure. The policies have sparked numerous lawsuits and have highlighted ongoing debates about the figures and events memorialized in public spaces.
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What To Know
The Interior Department spokesperson told Newsweek that the NPCA "raises money using our beloved parks, but the reality of where the money goes is worth noting."
They said that during the 2024 election cycle, 99.65 percent of donations from NPCA employees were "distributed to Democrat political campaigns."
The NPCA said on its website that during the last fiscal year, it used 80 percent of its resources for its program and advocacy work. The association is also a Better Business Bureau-accredited charity, indicating it has met 20 specific standards of trust and ethical business practices.
"The organization's President and CEO donated directly to Kamala Harris' presidential campaign," the Interior Department spokesperson said. "This group claims to be interested in helping our parks, but in 2023, grants from the NPCA made up approximately 1.2 percent of their total expenditures."
Newsweek has not been able to verify the Interior Department's claims.
The department's spokesperson also noted the accounts the NPCA follows on the social media platform X, such as Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the Center for American Progress, the Sunrise Movement, Indivisible and others that the spokesperson said "show the political leanings of this group."
Ocasio-Cortez, known for her progressive views, and is a vocal critic of the Trump administration. The Center for American Progress is an "independent, nonpartisan policy institute," according to its website. And the Sunrise Movement is a political advocacy group that pushes for greater recognition and action on climate change.
Indivisible, a progressive action group empowering local groups to defend democracy, was one of the groups behind the No Kings rallies that have occurred nationwide since June 14—in opposition to the military parade Trump had planned for Flag Day and his birthday.
The spokesperson also hit out at Democracy Forward, saying it was "funded and run by far-left extremists who tried, but failed, to elect Hillary Clinton."
Responding to the spokesperson's comments, Theresa Pierno, the president and CEO of NPCA, told Newsweek: "For more than 100 years, the NPCA has served as the fearless and outspoken voice advocating for greater protections for national parks across the country."
"While some organizations raise money directly for national parks, our role has always been to advocate for parks, including fighting on Capitol Hill for parks to receive fair funding from Congress. In contrast, the administration has proposed slashing more than a billion dollars from national park budgets," Pierno continued.
She added, "As they aim to erase history, we will continue to fight for the facts."
Newsweek contacted Democracy Forward for comment via email outside regular working hours.
The Interior Department's response comes after the NPCA, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, Society for Experiential Graphic Design, and Union of Concerned Scientists filed their lawsuit with a Massachusetts District Court on Tuesday.
The coalition said in the lawsuit that the federal government had "betrayed" the trust of Congress to operate the national parks "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
It added that the government had instead been "mounting a sustained campaign to erase history and undermine science, so the parks no longer 'reflect different cultural backgrounds, ages, education, gender, abilities, ethnicity, and needs' or 'reflect current scientific and academic research.'"
Other National Park Lawsuits and Legislation
The administration has been hit with a number of lawsuits over other national park policies in the past 12 months. After an LGBTQ Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York earlier this month, a group of LGBTQ+ advocates and a Greenwich Village community group filed a lawsuit.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in December after the Interior Department announced new digital "America the Beautiful" passes with the president's face on them, which the nonprofit said ignored federal laws governing how the annual pass must be designed and issued.
When the Interior Department removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the 2026 national parks fee-free days, lawmakers countered the policy with legislation that would codify six permanent fee-free days—including those two—at all national parks and federal lands.
What People Are Saying
Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement: "America's national parks are a living classroom, telling the stories of sacrifice, perseverance, and hope so that every visitor can learn our history and the world around us. You cannot tell the story of America without recognizing both the beauty and the tragedy of our history."
Alan Spears, the National Parks Conservation Association's senior director of cultural resources, said in a statement: "In filing this litigation together, we are taking a stand for the soul of our national parks. Censoring science and erasing America's history at national parks are direct threats to everything these amazing places, and our country, stand for. National parks serve as living classrooms for our country, where science and history come to life for visitors. We the people deserve and demand a national park system that tells true stories of Black communities, Indigenous tribes, and countless other fascinating chapters of our history. As Americans, we deserve national parks that tell stories of our country's triumphs and heartbreaks alike. We can handle the truth."
What Happens Next
The coalition has requested that Secretary's Order 3431, the directive resulting in the review and removal of national park exhibits, be declared unlawful and for the court to "set aside the Secretary's Order as arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and in excess of statutory authority." The litigation is ongoing.
Update 2/20/26, 3:44 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a comment from NCPA.
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