Kentucky Organizations Call on State Leaders to Protect National Parks

Frankfort, KY -The Sierra Club and a coalition of more than 25 Kentucky organizations have sent a letter urging Governor Andy Beshear, Kentucky's congressional delegation, and other state leaders to oppose Executive Order 14253 and Secretarial Order 3431, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.

"Kentuckians care deeply about preserving the integrity of the stories told on our public lands," said Gerry Seavo James, deputy director of the Sierra Club's Outdoors for All campaign . "The histories of enslaved African American cave guides at Mammoth Cave National Park, Black soldiers and freedom-seeking families at Camp Nelson National Monument, and Indigenous communities at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park are not side notes. They are central to understanding these places and our shared past."

The letter responds to concerns that materials at Mammoth Cave National Park, Camp Nelson National Monument, and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park were identified in a leaked federal database tied to implementation of the orders. The coalition warns that these directives could be used to remove or narrow interpretation tied to Black history, Indigenous history, and other essential parts of Kentucky's story, and calls on state and federal leaders to press the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to protect historically grounded interpretation at park sites across the state.

The more than 25 organizations that have signed onto it include environmental groups, outdoor recreation advocates, historic preservation organizations, cultural institutions, and community-based groups.

"We're calling on Kentucky's leaders to ensure these federal directives are not used to remove historically grounded interpretation at our national parks," said Sarah Reeves, Grassroots Programs Coordinator of the Sierra Club Kentucky Chapter . "These sites are some of our nation's most important classrooms, and they are strongest when they present history with accuracy and integrity. Protecting our history should unite us, and future generations deserve to encounter the full, honest story of Kentucky."

Read the full letter and list of signatories here .