Trump admin to ban book from Yosemite National Park, says author

Source: SFGATE

NATIONAL PARKS
Trump admin to ban book from Yosemite National Park, says author

By Olivia Hebert,
News Reporter
Updated Nov 13, 2025 1:19 p.m.


The Village Store is seen as snow blankets Yosemite National Park in California on Feb. 23, 2023.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

A prominent Bay Area author said one of his books has been quietly flagged at Yosemite National Park as part of a March 2025 federal directive aiming to remove and revise “negative” information relating to American history.

Naturalist and illustrator Obi Kaufmann wrote in a Facebook post this week that his 2019 book, “The State of Water: Understanding California’s Most Precious Resource,” was identified by park officials as restricted under President Donald Trump’s executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Kaufmann said the flagging means that while Yosemite bookstores will not pull copies from the shelves, they will no longer purchase new copies of his book.

“The State of Water” explores what has led to California’s current water crisis, “exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of finite natural resources,” according to its publisher, Heyday Books. In the book, Kaufmann cautions against further developing California’s waterways, highlighting that conserving and restoring the ecosystem is not only a moral issue but a matter of survival.

Kaufmann’s focus on ecological decline and water exploitation may explain why the book’s been targeted, Jonathan Rosenfield, science director at San Francisco Baykeeper, told SFGATE. … “His book being banned just shows you what the administration is scared of,” Rosenfield said, adding that water is California’s most precious resource and that its aquatic ecosystems, fishing jobs and recreational activities are all threatened by the Trump administration’s agenda supporting energy development and corporate interests.

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Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/bay-area-writer-book-banned-yosemite-21171556.php