In a press release to the New York Instances, a spokesperson for the Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space, Joshua Winchell, confirmed that final week Muir Woods workers had eliminated sticky notes that have been added to present signage in 2021. These notes have been accompanied by a poster explaining the workers’s purpose “to inform the complete story” of Muir Woods — for instance, by acknowledging the position of Native American stewardship within the redwoods’ historical past.
“The tales protected at our nationwide parks convey us nearer collectively as a rustic, not additional aside,” mentioned Alan Spears, senior director for cultural assets on the Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation, in a press release emailed to KQED. “Our historical past is complicated, and as nationwide park advocates, we belief nationwide park workers to navigate these complexities and do their jobs with out interference.”
“Nice international locations don’t cover from or sanitize their historical past,” Spears mentioned.
Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know concerning the indicators, why they have been eliminated and what’s taking place at different nationwide parks throughout the nation.
What was eliminated at Muir Woods and why?
The now-removed sticky notes at Muir Woods have been a part of a 2021 exhibit referred to as “Historical past Underneath Building” developed by park rangers on the nationwide monument.
As an accompanying poster — additionally now eliminated — defined, workers made the sticky be aware additions to the prevailing signage in an effort so as to add context to the park’s historical past, highlighting the foundational roles of ladies and Indigenous individuals in its creation and the oftentimes racist and violent previous of its extra notable founders.
“This signal credit influential, philanthropic white males with saving Muir Woods,” the poster learn. “Whereas they undoubtedly contributed to the forest turning into a nationwide monument, a part of our obligation within the nationwide parks service is to inform the complete story of how that occurred.”
“All the things on this signal is true however incomplete,” the poster learn.
Specifically, the sticky notes identified founder Gifford Pinchot’s ties to the American Eugenics Society, John Muir’s use of racist language towards Indigenous individuals in his writing and Congressman William Kent’s work on laws that focused Asian immigrants.
What was within the government order round supplies in nationwide parks?
In March, Trump issued an government order, referred to as “Restoring Reality and Sanity to American Historical past,” which took purpose at what the White Home referred to as a “distorted narrative” that Trump claimed was permeating america’ nationwide parks, monuments and different federal establishments just like the Smithsonian.
“Underneath this historic revision, our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, particular person rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or in any other case irredeemably flawed,” Trump wrote.
The Trump administration additionally instructed workers at nationwide parks to publicly submit indicators with QR codes inviting guests to themselves report any signage they discovered to “inappropriately disparage Individuals previous or residing.”
The order then gave parks a deadline: By mid-July, they needed to flag any supplies for doable enhancing or elimination, which the Trump administration mentioned it might perform by Sept. 17, in accordance with the New York Instances.
The order acknowledged that Secretary of the Inside Doug Burgum would overview supplies “inside the Division of the Inside’s jurisdiction” for “improper partisan ideology” after which take motion to make sure they didn’t “comprise descriptions, depictions, or different content material that inappropriately disparage Individuals previous or residing (together with individuals residing in colonial occasions).”
Many cultural and outside organizations swiftly decried the order, together with the American Historic Affiliation and the Sierra Membership. Some guests, too, used the chance to criticize the administration’s order — or reward parks workers — fairly than flag parks content material for elimination.
So what occurred at Muir Woods?
Muir Woods officers didn’t reply to KQED’s request for remark. However Golden Gate Nationwide Recreation Space spokesperson Winchell mentioned the sticky notes had been eliminated final week pending a overview following the chief order.
