This summer, visitors to Grand Teton National Park could walk into a visitor center and buy books on Wyoming and American history, the biodiversity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the region’s indigenous cultures.
Come spring, the books that line the shelves at Grand Teton could look very different. That’s because, earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered the review and removal of items in national park gift shops.
Starting in January, the Trump administration passed a series of orders targeting government agencies or adjacent partners that promote “diversity, equity and inclusion” or gender expression.
By summertime, the Department of the Interior called for a review of national park gift shop items that “disparage Americans.” The National Parks Conservation Association then obtained a memo in early December from the Interior that instructed National Park Service employees to finish their reviews by Dec. 19.
What will be removed to remain in compliance remains murky.
The Department of Interior didn’t answer KHOL’s question on whether books on regional history would be removed under the order. Instead, it said in an email that a review of items is underway with the park service’s partners to “ensure our gift shops remain neutral spaces that serve all visitors.”
Those in charge of Grand Teton’s stores have also stayed quiet on the specifics.
The Grand Teton Association, which runs several of the park’s concessions, did not return KHOL’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the park and another at Vail Resorts, which runs two lodges in the park, declined to comment on how the order is being implemented, with the former pointing KHOL to sources in Washington.
The order is in-line with a wider recalibration of public priorities under the Trump administration, including in national parks. The administration also announced this month that parks would no longer offer free entrance on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. Instead, entrance will be free on Flag Day, June 14, which is also the president’s birthday.
The National Parks Conservation Association, and other stewards of history, oppose the removal of history books and other merchandise to align with the administration’s orders.
Ray Locker is the communications director at the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a nonprofit learning center dedicated to remembering when the U.S. government forcibly sent Japanese Americans to a camp outside Cody during World War II.
Books on the Heart Mountain camp, such as “The Eagles of Heart Mountain,” by Bradford Pearson, are among many regional history books sold as recently as this summer at Grand Teton’s park shops. Locker said it would be “counterproductive” if Trump’s order caused the removal of such books.
“If [books like that] happened to be removed from the shelves and from the store, I think that would be really a bad thing and would limit people’s ability to find out more about this part of history, which happened just a few hours away from Grand Teton National Park,” Locker said.
So far, Locker said the center has received “nothing but support” from Wyoming’s congressional delegation.
Copyright 2025 KHOL. This story was shared via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico, including Aspen Public Radio.