REGIONAL- A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a lower court order that would have required the National Park Service to restore exhibits and interpretive signs removed under the Trump administration’s review of historical materials, but the ruling has no immediate effect at Voyageurs National Park.
The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 2 stayed a preliminary injunction issued last month by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley while the administration appeals her ruling. The appeals court said the administration had made a sufficient showing that restoring the materials before the case is decided could cause substantial harm.
The ruling means the administration is not currently required to reinstall exhibits and displays that have already been removed at parks around the country. It does not resolve the underlying lawsuit, which continues in federal court.
For Voyageurs, however, little has changed.
Park officials previously confirmed that no interpretive signs or exhibits at Voyageurs had been removed or altered under the administration’s review, despite two displays being identified earlier this year for possible revision. As a result, visitors to the park will continue seeing the same exhibits currently on display.
One of the two exhibits discusses the impact of dam construction on Ojibwe communities in the border lakes region, describing how rising water levels flooded historic shorelines and destroyed wild rice beds that were central to Ojibwe culture and treaty rights.
The second, titled “A Mile in Their Shoes: Lumberjacks,” was flagged because it notes that townspeople sometimes referred to loggers as “timber beasts,” language federal reviewers suggested could be viewed as disparaging.
The underlying lawsuit, challenging the administration’s review of park exhibits, will continue as the appeal moves forward.