NPS to visitors: English is ‘official language,’ even on Spanish websites

A disclaimer has been added to websites that provide information about parks in other languages.

February 11, 2026

The National Park Service has long provided park websites in other languages — like Spanish, Russian or French — in a nod to the millions of visitors of diverse background who descend on parks each year. But now those websites also include one sentence in English.

NPS this week added a disclaimer to emphasize that English is the “official language and authoritative version of all federal information.”

At least 11 alternative language sites — including for California’s Joshua Tree National Park and Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park, and Lewis and Clark National Historical Park — either have the new language added or are temporarily inaccessible, according to a review by POLITICO’s E&E News and an Interior Department staffer familiar with the change who was granted anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about it publicly. Those three Spanish-language websites each noted that they were last updated Tuesday.

The Interior Department, which oversees the park service, said in a statement that the web updates are part of ongoing compliance with the president’s order last year designating English as the nation’s official language. The agency cited Department of Justice guidance, from last summer, to “minimize non-essential multilingual services.”

The change was made days after President Donald Trump’s took offense to Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny's performance at the Super Bowl on Sunday, which was entirely in Spanish. The president called the show “a slap in the face” to the country, saying "nobody understands a word this guy is saying."

The disclaimer was called out of touch by some congressional Democrats who’ve criticized the president’s broader crackdown on park content that fails to extol the beauty of the United States or is too "negative" about U.S. history.

Sen. Alex Padilla of California said the change is incongruous in a country as diverse as the U.S.

“This president cannot change the reality that tens of millions of people in the United States speak languages other than English at home,” he said in a statement. “The U.S. does not have a national language and this Administration’s attempt to minimize or erase accessibility within our National Parks Service is not only a disservice to Americans but will also hurt our tourism economy.”

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), whose been sharply critical of the Trump administration for cracking down on historical content at parks that fails to comply with a presidential order limiting historical content to uplifting material, said a focus on language is from an Archie Bunker era of U.S. history, a reference to the bigoted 1970s sitcom character.

“All of this is just embarrassing and almost unthinkable in a country that is supposed to value inclusion and diversity, especially for something like the National Park Service, where you have visitors from all over the world and all over the country, of every background,” he said in an interview.

Trump declared English as the nation’s official language in March of last year, saying the move would “cultivate a shared American culture.” The order championed English as the language of the country’s founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence, and said an official language designation for the United States was long overdue.

“A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language,” the order states.

The U.S. government is under some obligations to provide critical information in a way that doesn’t undermine access. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination based on national origin, which may include language discrimination.

Prior Democratic presidents have sometimes underscored access based on language, including an executive order signed by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 for some agencies to boost information provided in other languages for nonnative English speakers. Trump's order revoked the Clinton action.

The disclaimer is not the first time the administration has targeted non-English content at national parks.

Spanish language signs at Big Bend National Park in Texas were flagged last year for potential removal due to noncompliance with an order signed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to focus park content on information that celebrates the grandeur and beauty of national park lands

Bob Krumenaker, a former superintendent at the park, said to his knowledge those signs had not been removed, yet. He underscored that park staff are under pressure to comply with the Trump administration’s edicts and avoid recrimination.

“Some of it is fear, some of it is self-censorship,” he said of the signs at Big Bend getting flagged.


By:  Heather Richards
Source: Politico Greenwire