COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — 313 days since KOAA submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request with the Department of the Interior (DOI), the files were finally released en masse.
The KOAA FOIA was submitted on July 18, 2025, and sought all comments received via QR codes that went up at National Park Service (NPS) sites across the country from June 13 last year until July 18. The initial estimated delivery date was Aug. 15.
On May 22, a spreadsheet with 35,700 comments was finally released by the DOI. An email from the NPS indicated the FOIA request was now closed.
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The controversial QR codes in 2025 were accompanied by a message which read “Please let us know if you have identified…any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
Backlash was immediate nationwide last year as NPS advocates interpreted the goal as to whitewash or bring about revisionist history. Many NPS sites memorialize the darkest chapters in American history, such as the Sand Creek Massacre and the Amache National Historic Sites in southeast Colorado.
Comments released from the public records request show a vast majority of NPS visitors pushed back against the administration's efforts to sanitize the country’s history.
At Colorado’s 13 NPS sites, comments were overwhelmingly negative toward President Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and in support of the National Parks and increasing funding for rangers and site protection. Over 1,700 comments were written regarding Colorado locations.
Though not all comments criticized the administration, including some earnestly asking for repairs to Bent’s Old Fort, for example, many were harsh in their language (and can’t be reprinted here).
“Tell Trump to stop erasing history. Those absurd new signs to report negative history must come down immediately,” said one comment from Amache, a Japanese internment camp during World War II. “Rangers should be able to talk about the history of Japanese American incarceration at Amache, or the history of slavery at Fort Monroe, without looking over their shoulders in fear. If our country erases the darker chapters of our history, we will never learn from our mistakes.”
At Sand Creek, where American troops massacred hundreds of peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children, a visitor comment said “The signs and staff were very informative. We need to remember the past so we don’t repeat our mistakes in the future. Ignoring or trying to rewrite history accomplishes nothing. The truth will always remain. Thank you Mr. President and Secretary of the Interior for making us even more determined to learn about the darker periods of our history.”
At Florissant Fossil Beds in Teller County, one visitor wrote “These signs targeting history and asking park visitors to report history that portrays any American in a negative light are un-American and are anti-history. The best of Americans do not exist without the worst of Americans and both characters form our history.”
The dataset of comments was added to the NPS website’s “Frequently Requested Documents” page, which indicates the agency received multiple similar requests.
The NPS release in May covered a date range from June 4, 2025 to Jan. 14, 2026. The FOIA response letter noted 227 cells were redacted in order to protect personal identifying information.
The entire spreadsheet can be downloaded here.
This NPS controversy traced back to a March 27 executive order last year signed by President Trump titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” where Trump claimed there has been a decade-long effort to cast American history in a negative light.
Amongst other points, he directed the Department of the Interior to ensure that National Parks sites “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”
Trump’s executive order was reiterated in a May 20 order last year from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Burgum’s order directed each land management bureau to post the QR code signage “throughout each property, in as many locations within each property as necessary and appropriate to ensure public awareness.”
The result of these orders materialized earlier this year at Independence Mall in Philadelphia, where a display about George Washington’s ownership of slaves was removed in January at the behest of the Trump admin.
A federal judge ruled the panels had to be returned to their original state. The administration appealed the ruling at the time, but a separate federal ruling in April reiterated the exhibit had to remain as is.
The rollout of changes on the national scale has been slow moving, with some sites seemingly spared from change such as the Sand Creek Massacre site in Colorado.
When asked if the DOI or NPS would be taking into account any of the comments received to change or alter parks, a Department spokesperson appeared to push back on the original intention of the QR codes.
“The Department of the Interior worked to identify materials that might warrant clarification,” the spokesperson said. “Elevating an item for consideration does not mean it violates the Order, and it does not mean it will be changed. In the vast majority of cases across the system, flagged materials remain unchanged. We are not in the business of explaining the TDS of others.”
TDS is a likely reference to so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome, which is a term used by supporters of the president for those they deem too critical or hyper-focused on actions by President Trump.
Email Senior Reporter Brett Forrest at brett.forrest@koaa.com. Follow @brettforrestTV on X and Brett Forrest News on Facebook.
Brett can also communicate via encrypted apps like Signal. Due to the sensitive nature of ongoing reporting from federal actions, he is willing to take steps to protect identities.
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