All-formats package explores Wabanaki people’s response to removal of markers from national parks

Jessie Wardarski, a visual journalist on the religion team, delivered all-formats coverage on how the Wabanaki people – a Native American community in Maine – were responding to a nationwide Trump administration to remove explanatory signage from national parks that it deemed “disparaging” to the U.S. Among the targets for removal: more than 30 signs at Acadia National Park highlighting the Wabanakis’ history and culture. The story’s publication was preceded by months of communication and collaboration, including with assistant news director Felicia Fonseca, who has expertise in the coverage of Native Americans, and Scott McFetridge, whose dossier now includes coverage of National Parks. Wardarski spent months building relationships across the region to document the partnerships and cultural restoration programs developed between Acadia and the five tribes that make up the Wabanaki Confederacy. She also interviewed historians, conservation organizations, park ranger groups and the former director of the National Park Service to examine the broader implications for park staff and the communities that help steward these lands.