Staff at Redwood National and State Parks in Northern California have flagged several books about Native American culture and history for possible removal from park visitor centers as part of a federal review tied to an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
According to a report by the Lost Coast Outpost, nine books sold in park gift shops and educational spaces were identified during an internal review directed at materials that could be viewed as critical of American history.
As of Thursday, however, the Prairie Creek Visitor Center inside Redwood National and State Parks still had every book listed in the internal documents on its shelves, the Outpost reported.
In a statement emailed to the outlet, the United States Department of the Interior said the documents circulating online do not represent final decisions.
“These draft, deliberative internal documents are not a representation of final action taken by the Department,” the agency said.
Books Center Native Perspectives
The books reportedly focus largely on Native histories and perspectives in California, particularly the experiences of tribes whose ancestral homelands overlap with lands now protected within the national park system.
Among the titles listed in the review are:
- We Are the Land by Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer Jr.
- California Through Native Eyes by William J. Bauer Jr.
- Adopted by Indians by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield
- We Are Dancing for You by Cutcha Risling Baldy (Cutcha Risling Baldy), a citizen of the Hupa Tribe.
Each of the books examines California history through Indigenous perspectives, addressing themes such as colonization, displacement, cultural survival, and the resilience of Native communities.
Files Reveal Broader Review
Evidence of the review surfaced after an anonymous group uploaded more than 1,000 internal files online.
The documents include spreadsheets, photographs, and records cataloging books, signs, and interpretive displays across the National Park Service. According to the Lost Coast Outpost, the spreadsheet specifically lists the nine titles identified at Redwood National and State Parks.
It remains unclear whether the books will ultimately be removed or if they were simply flagged for consideration.
The document cache also suggests the review may extend beyond a single park. Photographs and records show interpretive materials across the national park system being cataloged on subjects such as:
- Enslavement and the abolition movement
- The Civil Rights Movement
- The genocide and forced removal of Native Americans
- Climate change
The review appears tied to Trump’s executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which directs federal agencies to identify and report content displayed at national parks and other federal sites that portrays the United States or its past in a negative light.
Native Histories in the Parks
For decades, the National Park Service has worked to include Indigenous perspectives in park interpretation, often collaborating with tribes whose ancestral lands are now protected as national parks.
At Redwood National and State Parks, interpretive programs and visitor center materials frequently highlight the cultures and histories of the Yurok Tribe, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, and Karuk Tribe.
Historians and tribal leaders have long argued that including Native voices is essential to presenting a fuller and more accurate account of American history.
Concerns About Erasing Indigenous Perspectives
Critics say targeting books that center Native American history risks silencing perspectives that have only recently begun to appear in national park interpretation.
Works such as We Are the Land and California Through Native Eyes are widely used in classrooms and public history programs because they foreground Indigenous voices in telling the story of California.
If removed, advocates warn that visitors could lose access to educational materials explaining the deeper histories of lands now preserved as national parks.
For many Native scholars, telling the full story of the United States—including colonization, forced relocation, and Indigenous resilience—is not about criticizing the country. Instead, they say, it is about acknowledging history honestly.
And for tribes whose homelands later became national parks, those histories are not distant events. They remain part of living memory and ongoing cultural survival.
