It started shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, when the NPS retweeted crowd shots that compared Trump’s inauguration attendance to that of former President Obama’s in 2009. The organization later apologized.
On Tuesday, the @BadlandsNPS began tweeting about climate change.
The posts came after National Park Twitter accounts were reportedly on lockdown. White House memos also hit the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, asking each of the agencies to refrain from publishing press releases, social media, blog entries or website content.
After news of EPA gag order... someone at the NPSBadlands started tweeting out climate change data. #Resistance@BadlandsNPS http://pic.twitter.com/jHgT00DmG0
— HistorySmith (@historysmith) January 24, 2017
Badlands officials were quick to blame the outburst on a former employee:
The National Park Service tells me those @BadlandsNPS tweets were from a former employee and the account was “compromised." http://pic.twitter.com/RfmFSyebdG
— Claudia Koerner (@ClaudiaKoerner) January 25, 2017
[RELATED: Keep your cool in a crisis with these 13 tips.]
It wasn’t the only national parks account to tweet about climate change.
Then on Wednesday Redwoods National Park tweeted about climate change and the role of trees as a carbon sink, adding: "More redwoods would mean less #climatechange".
Golden Gate National Recreation Area had earlier posted that "2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row", adding a link to a Nasa report on climate change.
Death Valley National Park's account, meanwhile, tweeted about Japanese-Americans interned at the park during World War Two.
Though the Badlands National Park’s tweets were later delated, another account with the name @AltNatParkSer revved up with this tweet:
Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS.
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017
You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!
The account’s owner or owners haven’t revealed their identities, but did offer this explanation to a reporter:
Hi @JettGoldsmith This accnt being run by several active NPS rangers and friends.
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017
We promise 100 percent that we include environmental scientists and far too much coffee. #ResistTrump https://t.co/dV5DZjtmfh
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017
Though the rogue account gained traction and captured headlines, a senior official from the EPA warned against making too much out of the White House directives, saying the request for silence was common when changing administrations.
Speaking anonymously to The New York Times, the EPA official said:
I don’t think it’s fair to call it a gag order. This is standard practice. And the move with regard to the grants, when a new administration comes in, you run things by them before you update the website.
On Wednesday, NPS’ chief spokesman, Tom Crosson, went a step further by denying that his agency was denied the ability to tweet. Crosson told CBS:
There’s no gag order on national parks that would prevent people from tweeting.
Save for Crosson’s statement, the organization has remained silent about the incidents.
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