Trump Admin Appeals Order to Restore Park Climate Signs

The Interior Department appealed a court ruling requiring the National Park Service to restore hundreds of removed materials, including climate signs, by July 4.

The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service filed an appeal Monday evening with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, seeking a preliminary injunction against U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley's ruling that the government must restore materials removed from historic sites and national parks since May 20, 2025. Kelley had ordered the restoration completed within 21 days, ahead of the July 4 America 250 celebrations. If the injunction is granted, the full restoration of historical markers, materials and exhibits would be halted before the holiday deadline. An Interior Department spokesperson confirmed the appeal, saying in a statement that "politically charged language denigrating our Founding Fathers is inappropriate and only further divides Americans."

Judge Kelley cast the removals as "arbitrary and capricious," writing that the administration "seeks to share a limited history" by ordering removal of signs and exhibits that do not align with its preferred narrative, "thereby telling half-truths." According to her ruling, by early 2026 the National Park Service had removed or identified for removal hundreds of materials, including "dozens of signs related to climate change, civil rights, and diverse communities." The lawsuit behind the ruling was filed in February by a coalition including the National Parks Conservation Association. "National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent," the association's Alan Spears said after the ruling.

Among the most notable changes outlined in the lawsuit, according to ABC News, are the removal of signs detailing the impact of climate change at Glacier National Park in Montana and Acadia National Park in Maine. The complaint also cites removals of materials on atrocities against Native American tribes at Grand Teton and Grand Canyon, and of exhibits involving slavery, abolition, immigration, labor, women's suffrage and civil rights — including the slavery exhibit at the President's House in Philadelphia. The administration's actions follow President Trump's March 27, 2025 executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which directed removal of materials casting the country's "founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light."

The 1st Circuit appeal sets up a test of whether federal park agencies can remove interpretive science content during pending litigation, and it lands amid a wider pattern the Los Angeles Times describes of an administration that has "gutted environmental protections and scientific research" while rolling back limits on power plant emissions and moving to open the California coast to more oil drilling. The Los Angeles Times column also notes that in August, hundreds of people attended a NOAA hearing in Santa Monica to defend California's authority over its own coast, with 18,000 more filing comments online. Whatever the appeals court decides, the outcome will determine whether the climate and civil rights signs return before the nation's July 4 birthday celebrations.