With 8 National Parks Across Alaska, Melting Glaciers, Native History & Other Topics Are Now Considered Unacceptable On Park Displays

SIGNS OF THE TIMES 

U.S. Government Begins Taking Down Educational Signs And Displays At National Parks Across America 

The Government Says It Will Not Tolerate Any Mention of Anything That's "Negative About Either Past Or Living Americans" In National Parks 

Topics That Are Considered Objectionable & Worthy Of Removal Include... 

Slavery, Glaciers Melting, Native American Boarding Schools, Massacres Of Indians, Native Ties To Mountains, The Beating Of Slaves, Endangered Turtles, Coastal Erosion & Flooding, Imprisonment of Native Americans, Navajo Leadership, Mention of Native Homelands, Broken Promises, & Forced Removal Of Natives 

In the early 2000s you could walk right up to Exit Glacier. (Photo, Journal archives)

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 

The Association of National Park Rangers has joined a lawsuit to halt the efforts of the Secretary of the Interior and the Acting Director of the National Park Service from efforts to "erase history and science in national parks." 

Throughout America's National Parks, the process has begun to take down signs that describe various communities' histories and achievements. The association sent a list of a few of these endangered displays to the media. The U.S. has 63 official national parks.  

In general, the U.S. government wants to remove any perceived "negative" information from view by the public at National Parks. That includes slavery, massacres, melting glaciers, and the relationship between the U.S. government and Native Americans, among many other topics. 

Display about glaciers in Seward, Alaska. (Photo, Country Journal)

What can we probably expect in Alaska, where there are eight National Parks, a core Native American population, and many glaciers? 

MELTING GLACIERS AT NATIONAL PARKS

In Alaska, the melting of glaciers is currently a major display topic at certain NPS locations, including Exit Glacier in Seward. 

It appears possible that one of the glacier's most beloved displays may be at risk, because it catalogues the retreat of Exit Glacier in an easy to understand manner.

At the Kenai Fjords National Park, one of the most striking and interesting displays is an outdoor series of signs along a walking path that show where the toe of Exit Glacier was in the past, and how far it has gone back over many years. 

As you walk along, the signs show where the ice was during that year. 

The glacier came to this part of the trail in Kenai Fjords National Park in 1917. 

EXCERPTS FROM PRESS RELEASE 

February 17th, 2026  

•At Muir Woods in Golden Gate National Park in California. The now-removed 2021 installation...  provided previously-omitted content on Indigenous history,

•An exhibit about climate change, women’s rights and liberty, and components of the country’s history “we hope never to repeat—like slavery, massacres of Indians, or holding Japanese Americans in wartime camps” at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York

•At Acadia National Park in Maine, Park Service officials reportedly removed signs addressing both history and science. At least one now-removed sign discussed the Wabanaki people and the significance of the Cadillac Mountain—or what the Wabanaki call Wapuwoc—to their culture and heritage.

*At Glacier National Park in Montana, Park Service officials ordered the removal of interpretive materials describing the concept of climate change and the effect it has had on the park and its role in driving the disappearance of glaciers.

ERASING INDIGENOUS HISTORY 

Interpretive materials explaining mistreatment of Indigenous peoples have been flagged for removal at parks across the country. These reportedly include a display at Sitka National Historical Park referencing the mistreatment of Alaskan Native peoples by missionaries, a sign at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in Colorado that described the forced removal of a Native Tribe, and an exhibit at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana that described the United States being “hungry for gold and land” and breaking promises to Native Americans. Other examples include:

• At Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in Florida, the Park Service flagged language about the imprisonment of Native Americans inside the Spanish stone fortress. 
• A panel at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Arizona that discussed Ganado Mucho, a Navajo leader known for settling disputes with ranchers, has also been flagged for removal. 
• At Death Valley National Park, which spans California and Nevada, the Timbisha Soshone Tribe requested that a new exhibit be placed with the phrases “these are our homelands” and “we are still here” to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Homeland Act, which transferred nearly 7,800 acres of land to the Tribe. However, this too has reportedly been placed under review pursuant to the Executive Order and Secretary’s Order.

• At Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the Park Service removed a sign explaining the complicated history of Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a key member of an early Yellowstone expedition who had participated in a massacre of Native Americans.

In 1978, Exit Glacier came to this point on the trail. This sign in Kenai Fjords National Park graphically shows how much it has melted in an interesting and concrete manner. Glaciers appear to be controversial.  NOTE: There have been no reports yet that these dramatic trailside signs showing the melting at Exit Glacier have yet been removed.  (Photo, Country Journal archives)