Request 012 — 1/12/2026

Nothing quite like being in nature that makes you want to file a complaint with the feds

Happy Monday! It’s foiaday!

It’s officially week two of foiaday, and this is our second weekly update! Today is January 12th, and I’ve made 30 different requests to 28 distinct agencies. (So I’m a little ahead of the target, it seems.)

I haven’t gotten much back, but we’ll get to that in a little bit. To start, here’s the request I filed today: complaints lodged with the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior.

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Last summer, my best friends and I loaded up in a rental car and trekked from rural western Nebraska back to sweet home Chicago. We drove over a thousand miles across a week, and stopped at pretty much every roadside tourist trap, state park, truck stop and scenic overlook between Rapid City and Spring Green.

Most of where we stopped were National Park Service units. Units, if you didn’t know, is the official name for any kind of NPS-operated site — national parks, sure, but also landmarks, historic sites, monuments, and the like.

In Nebraska, where we spent the brunt of our time on the trip, we trekked up Scotts Bluff National Monument and the Chimney Rock National Historic Site; we dipped into Wyoming, to visit the Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site, which is on the NPS-operated Oregon National Historic Trail. We visited the Fort Laramie National Historic Site, which was eerie and fascinating and stunning all at once.

Not to mention the drive. Nebraska National Forest; Oglala National Grassland; then Wind Cave National Park and the Black Hills; we spent a night in the Badlands National Park and Buffalo Gap National Grassland, then the Minuteman Missile National Historic sites.

All in, it was absolutely stunning. 10/10 would do again. (And this is actually my second time making this drive; my first time was from Spokane to Chicago a few years prior!)

But amid all the gorgeous views, bustling families and wildlife, something caught my eye when we were in South Dakota at Badlands National Park. I wasn’t the first one to notice it, but it was the first one I saw in person: a very specific, very pointed sign, tacked up just outside the bathrooms on a bulletin board.

“Badlands National Park belongs to the American people, and the National Park Service wants your feedback. Please let us know if you have identified (1) any areas that need repair; (2) any services that need improvement…”

Yeah, you already know that’s not what caught my eye. It was the third bit: “…or (3) 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.”

The signs cropped up in June and July of last year in response to an executive order by President Trump in March (focused on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”).

Like I said, I wasn’t the first person to notice these signs. There’s been great reporting, and also extensive and dogged archiving work, to capture changes that are happening to National Park Service signs.

The changes themselves were guided by public comments submitted to the link mentioned on the sign itself. The form is a pretty simple feedback form, and guides respondents through selecting the NPS unit, plus a topic area for their feedback, before opening the floor with a free response box.

The sign changes were supposed to be implemented in September, and the feedback form is live and has been live since last June.

So. Let’s start by requesting the responses and data created by the feedback form, which was a suggested prompt on — get this — Day 12 of the FOIA Advent Calendar this past December!

All data generated via the form available at go.nps.gov/eo14253 from 1/1/2025 to the present (1/12/2026 or whenever this request is processed). Please include information about all NPS units, and include all fields in the form. Please release the document in a machine-readable format, like a .csv, .tsv, .xlsx or other format, like a database file. 

Then, let’s request for removals of interpretive signs and materials across different NPS units:

Documents or data sufficient to show a list of interpretive signs removed or edited as a result of EO 14253, or "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History." Please include notes about the interpretive signs or reasons for removal or revision if changed. Please include a list across all NPS units, and, if possible, release documents that show the number of signs edited or changed at each unit, along with any associated financial cost for each unit. Please release the documents in a digitzed format, like a .pdf, .xlsx, .csv, or database file, if possible.

I’m fascinated to see where things go. As someone who is big on always reading the plaque, I’m very curious to see how things may have changed since I last visited some of these sites.

Okay, update time! One update that folks got this past week was that some requests needed to be re-filed — people change emails and jobs, sometimes things go to the wrong place, et cetera. Of the requests filed, many (20) are in progress, few (3) have been extended, and only two have been completed: blocked users by the Chicago Mayor’s Office official social media accounts, and the full list of rejected plate applications between 2020 and 2025.

Blocked users? There are none. According to the Mayor’s Office, Brandon Johnson doesn’t have anyone blocked. (Which is a good thing!) Across the way, NYC says they’ll have a response back about mayoral social media accounts by April.

Plates? Oh, plates. The file released was an Excel file that I’m still sifting through, and I’m waiting on a follow-up request to get a few extra details in line with that L.A. Times story I had linked a couple weeks ago. I’ll have the barebones Excel file up and shareable soon, and hopefully (🤞) the Secretary of State’s office gets back this week with the follow-up, which was the reasoning for each denial.

In the meantime, a short preview of what to expect: UGLY, PENDEJA, APESHIT, TURDLY and SHTSTRM were all rejected in 2025 for custom plates. Personally, though, nothing can top 2020’s FARTS, which has been requested quite a few times over the years, thankfully more than 2020’s OPIOIDS (!!).

As promised, here's a list of the requests I’ve put in so far for the past week. If you’re curious, you can click the slug name in order to read the corresponding foiaday issue and the request language in the archives:

If you have any ideas for requests, feedback, or thoughts about foiaday, we now have a form! Feel free to pop by to share inspiration to help get me through this year’s worth of requests.

Feedback + requests form!

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Weekly subscribers, you’ll see me in your inbox next Monday with a summary of how this week goes. Daily subscribers, I’ll see you tomorrow! (And if you want to change your subscription, you can always do so at the bottom of these emails!)

Happy filing, and have a good week!

Cam