Signs Referencing Climate Change Along with Web Pages Removed from Acadia National Park
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—The National Park Service has removed multiple Acadia National Park signs that refer to climate change. Those signs were at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, one of the park’s most popular spots, as well as Great Meadow.
The Trump administration has said that it hopes to take away information from national sites, such as parks, that it believes diminishes “the remarkable achievements of the United States.”
Pages on the Park Service website that referenced climate change were also removed early in 2025.
Deputy Press Secretary for the Department of Interior Aubrie Spady told the Bar Harbor Story on Tuesday, “The online content was taken down at the beginning of the year because this administration believes in only administering facts based on real science to the American public, not brainless fear-mongering rhetoric used to steal taxpayer dollars.”
“At Acadia National Park, six signs atop Cadillac Mountain and four signs at the Great Meadow have been removed describing the impacts of climate change on the park, the connection of the Wabanaki nations to Cadillac Mountain, and encouraging park visitors to reduce their impact by taking the island explorer bus. We have decades of scientific research indicating how climate change is impacting Acadia – more intense rainfall and coastal storms, less snow, longer droughts, and rising sea levels. These are scientific facts, not political statements. Full stop,” The National Parks Conservation Association Northeast Senior Program Manager Todd Martin told the Bar Harbor Story, Tuesday.
“Since their founding more than a hundred years ago, national parks have never faced a more dire and existential threat than climate change. Our parks and gateway communities have experienced flooding, fires, and drought, as well as more frequent and intense extreme weather. Silencing science won’t stop climate change. It only leaves our parks and communities less informed and more vulnerable,” Martin said.
Martin continued, “When visitors arrive at Acadia, they deserve accurate, uncensored information about the park and how climate change is impacting it and the deep connection of the Wabanaki tribes to the land. We urge Congress to reject efforts to erase or rewrite our nation’s history. We urge Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rescind secretarial order 3431.”
The National Academy of Science (NAS) issued a report last week about the administration’s work to revoke the 2009 federal finding that said climate change is a threat. In it, it said that it is “beyond scientific dispute” that public health is impacted by climate change.
“EPA’s 2009 finding that the human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases threaten human health and welfare was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence,” the NAS said.
The nongovernmental nonprofit began in 1863 under then President Lincoln to advise the federal government.
The current administration disagrees with climate change being a danger to public health.
Earlier today in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Donald Trump said that climate change was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”
The removal of the signs and website pages at Acadia National Park may have been expected after a March executive order that said “improper partisan ideology” would not be allowed at places such as national parks and museums.
Signs and webpages concerning slavery and Japanese American incarceration were also removed according to the National Parks Conservation Association and the Washington Post.
According to the Washington Post, “Park Service officials have broadly interpreted the order to apply to information on racism, sexism, Indigenous persecution, gay rights, and climate change.”
“As mandated by law, national parks must tell the full story of America. That’s why President Trump’s executive order and his cabinet’s secretarial orders, including SO (Secretarial Order), 3431: ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,’ are so chilling,” Martin said. “Erasing history is the opposite of what the National Park Service has stood for since it was founded more than a hundred years ago. Removing or censoring any signs or websites from our parks is unacceptable and does a disservice to the American people and undermines park visitors at every turn.”
An August 31 letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum from the Coalition for Outdoor Renaming and Education calls for the rescission of the March Secretarial Order 3431: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.
“Last month, Friends of Acadia joined over a hundred other organizations in a letter to Secretary Burgum expressing concern and urging him to reconsider Secretarial Order 3431,” Friends of Acadia President and CEO Eric Stiles said Tuesday.
“This order undermines the Department of the Interior’s responsibility to steward not only the landscapes we all share but also the layered histories embedded within them. As part of that responsibility, the Department entrusts the National Park Service, one of the nation’s leading storytellers and its other agencies, to interpret and present those histories with honesty, depth, and care. Through exhibits, signage, ranger talks, and digital resources, our national parks and historic sites preserve our collective memory,” the Coalition’s letter reads.
In a September 18 letter to Secretary Burgum, U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) wrote, “I am writing to express my outrage over recent reports that the National Park Service is removing interpretive signs related to climate change and sea level rise in order to implement Executive Order 14253 (EO) and Secretarial Order 3431.”
“Since the release of this EO in March, I am increasingly alarmed by news reports with accounts of vital historical and cultural signage being pulled from our National Parks. Many of these signs provide vital educational information to the 330 million annual visitors at our NPS units. The attempt to whitewash history is something that should not be tolerated in any form—including at many NPS historical sites that call attention to and educate about the full scope of our nation’s story,” Rep. Pingree continued.
“This order is also a blatant attempt to limit the exchange and expression of factual information about climate science. The ongoing implementation of the EO not only runs afoul of the indispensable work being done at the local level to produce valuable science-based signage; it is also a chilling example of the Administration’s hardline climate denial – and its mounting attack on science and scientists,” Rep. Pingree said.
The National Park Service Director of Communications Rachel Pawlitz disagreed.
Pawlitz told the Post, “Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it.”
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Executive Director Emily Thompson said in a statement last week, “History is not meant to comfort; it is meant to teach. The removal of historical information from national parks and monuments undermines the core mission of these public spaces: to educate, preserve, and provide an honest reflection of our nation’s past — so that we can build a better future together.”
According to NPR, September 17 was a deadline for parks. “The Trump administration had instructed them to address any signs, statues or memorials it believes reflect negatively on the country.”
File photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
LINKS AND TEXT TO LEARN MORE:
National Parks Conservation Association
Friends of Acadia page about climate change and Acadia National Park.
Secretarial Order 3431: Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.
The Quietside Journal’s article on the sign removal.
Washington Post article.
THE MARCH EXECUTIVE ORDER: “RESTORING TRUTH AND SANITY TO AMERICAN HISTORY”
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth. This revisionist movement seeks to undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light. Under this historical revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed. Rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.
The prior administration advanced this corrosive ideology. At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — where our Nation declared that all men are created equal — the prior administration sponsored training by an organization that advocates dismantling “Western foundations” and “interrogating institutional racism” and pressured National Historical Park rangers that their racial identity should dictate how they convey history to visiting Americans because America is purportedly racist.
Once widely respected as a symbol of American excellence and a global icon of cultural achievement, the Smithsonian Institution has, in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. This shift has promoted narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive. For example, the Smithsonian American Art Museum today features “The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture,” an exhibit representing that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.” The exhibit further claims that “sculpture has been a powerful tool in promoting scientific racism” and promotes the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct, stating “Race is a human invention.”
The National Museum of African American History and Culture has proclaimed that “hard work,” “individualism,” and “the nuclear family” are aspects of “White culture.” The forthcoming Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum plans on celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports. These are just a few examples.
It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing. Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learn — not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history.
To advance this policy, we will restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness –- igniting the imagination of young minds, honoring the richness of American history and innovation, and instilling pride in the hearts of all Americans.
Sec. 2. Saving Our Smithsonian. (a) The Vice President, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., shall work to effectuate the policies of this order through his role on the Smithsonian Board of Regents with respect to the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo, including by seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties, and shall recommend to the President any additional actions necessary to fully effectuate such policies.
(b) The Vice President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall work with the Congress to ensure that future appropriations to the Smithsonian Institution:
(i) prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy; and
(ii) celebrate the achievements of women in the American Women’s History Museum and do not recognize men as women in any respect in the Museum.
(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Interior shall take any other measures within their authority to promote the policy of this order.
(d) As appropriate, the Vice President shall, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Lindsey Halligan, Esq., work with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate Majority Leader, to seek the appointment of citizen members to the Smithsonian Board of Regents committed to advancing the policy of this order.
Sec. 3. Restoring Independence Hall. The Secretary of the Interior shall provide sufficient funding, as available, to improve the infrastructure of Independence National Historical Park, which shall be complete by July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Sec. 4. Restoring Truth in American History.
(a) The Secretary of the Interior shall:
(i) determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology;
(ii) take action to reinstate the pre-existing monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties, as appropriate and consistent with 43 U.S.C. 1451 et seq., 54 U.S.C. 100101 et seq.,and other applicable law; and
(iii) take action, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times), and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 27, 2025.
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