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Appeals Court stops judge’s order to restore signs at Acadia

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In a victory for the Trump administration, the US Court of Appeals in Boston on Thursday granted a temporary block of a federal judge’s order to restore signs on climate change, civil rights, and diverse communities at Acadia National Park and other national parks around the nation.

The Appeals Court decision also clears the administration to move ahead with extracting signs and displays on climate change, black history and other items that could “inappropriately disparage Americans,” as described in the president’s executive order, jeopardizing exhibits at the Nature Center at Acadia and an exhibit at the Schoodic Institute for being cleared. The lower court judge had ordered the administration to stop taking further action to remove interpretive materials pending further litigation in the matter.

The Appeals Court agreed to a request by the Interior Department and the National Park Service and granted a stay on US District Court Judge Angel Kelley’s June 12 order to reinstate the signs at Acadia and other parks by July 3.

The National Park Service stored away 10 signs, including nine on climate change and one on the Wabanaki tribe, behind a building after the Trump administration ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and the Great Meadow.

These 10 tripod signs, including nine on climate change and one on the Wabanaki tribe, stored last year behind a building near outhouses and an old canoe by Acadia National Park, can remain hidden for now as a result of a US Court of Appeals ruling. The signs were put out of sight after the Interior secretary ordered them removed from Cadillac Mountain and the Great Meadow, saying they promoted improper partisan ideology.

The decision is a victory for the US Interior Department and the National Park Service and a defeat for the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, including the National Park Conservation Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists, which filed a lawsuit against Interior and the NPS in February, alleging Interior and the NPS violated certain federal laws by ordering the materials and signs at Acadia to be taken down.

The Appeals Court will now hear the appeal of Kelley’s decision by the plaintiffs. The Appeals Court said that the Interior Department “met its burden” in asking for the stay of the order to restore 10 tripod signs at Acadia and interpretive items at other parks. Continue reading →