Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Interior secretary orders national parks to ask visitors to report “negative” depictions of U.S. history
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Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Manzanar National Historic Site in California, where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Ken Lund ([link removed]) , CC BY-SA 2.0 ([link removed])
Last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed an order ([link removed]) directing all 433 national park sites to post signs asking visitors to report any posted information that tells a negative story about the site or its history. Burgum's order implements a March 27 executive order from President Donald Trump titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History ([link removed]) .”
The order also applies ([link removed]) to other Interior agencies that manage sites open to the public, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. According to the order, Interior agencies must identify properties that contain depictions or other information that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living” and replace this with “content that focuses on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
The order could impact the educational content at sites that chronicle dark moments of U.S. history, including places like ([link removed]) Amache National Historic Site in Colorado, where over 10,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated from 1942 to 1945, and Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, which commemorates the forced relocation of the Cherokee people after Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
“These signs could have a chilling effect on rangers just trying to do their jobs and tell the truth. When the Trump administration tries to rewrite American history, it is the American people who will suffer most,” said Theresa Pierno ([link removed]) , president of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Trump administration approves its first fast-tracked mining project in just 11 days
On Friday, the Trump administration officially authorized ([link removed]) the relaunch of operations at Velvet-Wood Mine ([link removed]) , a uranium mine in southeastern Utah, marking the first use of a fast-tracked 14-day environmental review process. The authorization came just 11 days after the Interior department ordered the Bureau of Land Management to review the mine’s environmental impacts within 14 days. Previously, the environmental review process would likely have taken months or years. The accelerated environmental assessment “alternative” was launched by the Trump administration in response to the president’s previously declared “energy emergency ([link removed]) .”
** Quick hits
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Tribes sue U.S. over abuse and deaths at boarding schools
New York Times ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed])
What will happen to Bears Ears monument under Trump? Tribes fear loss of sacred spaces
Arizona Republic ([link removed])
Interior secretary orders national parks to post signs asking visitors to report negative depictions of U.S. history
National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | GearJunkie ([link removed]) | Sierra Sun Times ([link removed]) | Denver7 ([link removed]) | Daily Kos ([link removed])
| NPR ([link removed])
Trump signs executive orders to boost nuclear power, speed up approvals
Associated Press ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed]) | NBC ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
Amid federal cuts, U.S. Forest Service cuts office hours at Sawtooth field offices in Idaho
Idaho Capital Sun ([link removed]) | Idaho Statesman ([link removed])
Trump administration approves its first fast-tracked mining project
Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])
California's newest national monument targeted by Texas group in lawsuit
SFGATE ([link removed])
“Stop the Count” activist lands top job at the Interior Department
The Intercept ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” [Chuckwalla National Monument] is one of those places that, once you develop, we can’t get back. So it feels especially insulting that an out-of-state special interest group would want to come in and undo that when Californians have really worked for years to get this win for the community.”
—Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of the Vet Voice Foundation, SFGATE ([link removed])
** Picture This
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[link removed]
@yosemitenps ([link removed])
This Memorial Day, we honor the United States military service members who have sacrificed their lives serving our country. Our public lands are one example of the American values these individuals served to protect. Many National Park Service sites honor the sacrifices and tell the stories of America's military history.
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