FOIA Documents Reveal Trump Administration Ordered Fish and Wildlife Service to Change Materials About Indigenous Peoples

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Official Trump Administration documents obtained by the Sierra Club reveal the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) took steps to censor materials at its headquarters in Virginia and at a wildlife refuge in Oklahoma as part of Donald Trump's attempts to whitewash history via the executive order"Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History".

• Read the FWS documents here

FWS staff flagged materials at more than 30 wildlife refuges, fish hatcheries, and agency offices for content on climate change, Indigenous peoples, wetland destruction, and other issues that may be inconsistent with the executive order. For the first time, these documents reveal the feedback provided by Interior on whether to change or keep materials - recommendations that include contradictory guidance about when to make changes.At one location, Interior recommended removing a line from a video about the "violent disruption" of Indigenous peoples, while at another location, Interior determined signage about Europeans forcing Indigenous peoples off their lands was "factual" and recommended no change.

"These documents expose the Interior Department's chaotic and contradictory approach to implementing Donald Trump's attempts to rewrite history. This effort continues to put career public servants in the difficult position of evaluating whether telling the full story of our public lands violates an executive order rooted in climate denial and hostility toward marginalized communities. Our public lands are landscapes of collective memory that are intended to serve as classrooms for democracy, not as vehicles for a whitewashed and sanitized version of history," Gerry James, deputy director for the Sierra Club's Outdoors For All campaign.

DOCUMENT DETAILS

The documents include nearly 300 public comments from more than 100 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheriesin response to the QR codes seeking public feedback. Many comments reveal public opposition to the executive order. Several comments highlight positive support for the refuge system and the need for more funding for public lands.

The documents detail the following sites and materials flagged by FWS staff, alongside recommended changes by Interior:

• National Wildlife Refuge System Headquarters (Virginia):Interior recommended the removal of the following language in a video: "From the earliest days of colonization the delicate balance nurtured by indigenous peoples, the first stewards of these lands, was violently disrupted."
• Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (Oklahoma): Interior recommended the removal of a display title called the "Hall of Shame" for an exhibit that talked about the conditions that brought on the near extinction of American bison.
• Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge (Nebraska) and Genoa National Fish Hatchery (Wisconsin): Interior is "researching the specifics to come up with a plan of action" related to signage flagged at both of these locations. No additional information was provided detailing the contents.

The documents detail the following sites where materials were flagged by FWS staff, but Interior recommended no further action, stating the materials were "factual statements about what occurred":

• Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge (Virginia) and Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge (Virginia): Multiple signs addressing how Indigenous peoples were forced off their lands by Europeans.
• Windom Wetland Management District (Minnesota): Signage about the Slaughter Slough Waterfowl Protection Area, which includes an interpretive display about a deadly interaction between white settlers and Indigenous peoples. (See photos.)
• Audubon National Wildlife Refuge (North Dakota):Signage about climate change.
• Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (Utah): Multiple signs about wetland destruction. (See photos.)

BACKGROUND

This is the third set of documents received by the Sierra Club as part of a FOIA and subsequent lawsuitseeking information from Interior about Trump's executive order. So far, the Sierra Club has published FOIA documents from FWS, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bureau of Land Management. Bureau of Indian Affairs also provided documents in February 2026, which contained emails stating its trust lands are not subject to the executive order, however, many of its public sites are managed by the National Park Service and subject to the order. Additional FOIA documents are expected from NPS and the Interior Secretary's office.

In recent months, reports of public lands signage either flagged for removal or ordered to be removed by the Trump Administration have picked up steam, including at Independence National Historical Parkin Pennsylvania, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monumentin Montana, Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monumentin Mississippi, and Glacier National Park and Grand Canyon National Park.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.