The National Park Service (NPS) has removed several signs at Acadia National Park that described the impact of climate change on the park and encouraged visitors to reduce their environmental impact by using public transportation. Information on climate change was also removed from the NPS website earlier this year. The changes are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to remove information it considers inconsistent with its view that climate change is not a threat. According to the Deputy Press Secretary for the Department of the Interior, which houses NPS, “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.”
Critics argue that silencing scientific facts, such as those regarding climate change's impacts, undermines public awareness and endangers both parks and communities. According to Todd Martin, Northeast Senior Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, “[w]e 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.”