Update: Since this story was published, new signage has been added to replace the information about climate change. This story has been edited to reflect that.
If you visit Muir Woods right now, you might come across a wooden sign under the towering trees that talks about various redwood species. It used to have information about how climate change was affecting the forest, but it’s the latest signage to be changed at Muir Woods because of Trump administration policies.
Lucy Scott was the lead interpretive park ranger at Muir Woods National Monument for eleven years. Back when she worked there in 2018, she and her colleagues made the sign to explain how climate change was impacting the redwoods that live on California’s foggy coastline.
“One of the biggest threats to redwoods is climate change,” Scott said, “because fog is decreasing and that means their habitat is getting smaller.”
The sign told visitors that reducing carbon emissions would help the redwoods and it called on visitors to ask their leaders to advocate for more renewable energy solutions. It was important to Scott and her colleagues to include that call to action on climate change because “we know this is harming the planet,” Scott said. “We know this is harming redwood forest habitat. And we can help.”
But on January 21st, the signage was removed. A few days later, it was replaced with different signage about relative species of redwoods.
The removal was the latest change stemming from a Department of Interior policy that says all national parks’ content needs to focus on the achievements of the American people and the beauty of the American landscape. Last year, park staff had to review all their exhibits and signage for anything that could be seen as inappropriately disparaging Americans and submit it to Washington for review. Now, the final decisions from that review about what has to get changed are trickling out. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Interior said that the removal of the Muir Woods signage was done to “ensure alignment with shared national values.”
This actually isn’t the first sign at Muir Woods to be changed because of the new policy. Last year, a different sign that talked about the complex history of the park, including Indigenous history and the park founders’ ties to anti-immigration policies, was also removed. Scott says these signs are based on research and facts and it was her job as a ranger to communicate those facts. “Park rangers are mission-driven. We want to tell people the story of what happened and what's happening and what could happen in our parks. Climate change is happening and it's affecting redwood trees. The parks belong to the people and they deserve to have all the facts.”
Other signs have been changed across the country because of the Trump directive. An exhibit about slavery was taken down at Independence Hall National Historic Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and signs about climate change-caused sea level rise were removed from Fort Sumter National Historic Park in Charleston Harbor of South Carolina. It’s not clear yet whether any signs at other Bay Area national parks will be changed.
