Officials at Alaska’s famed Denali National Park are taking heat after allegedly telling construction crews at the park not to fly the American flag.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, penned a letter to National Park Service Director Charles Sams demanding an explanation for the alleged actions of officials at Denali National Park, noting that the alleged demand for the bridge construction crew to remove the flag was made on the “eve of Memorial Day weekend.”
The claim appears to have originated in a report by the Alaska Watchman, a local conservative news outlet that cited an anonymous construction worker at the park. Fox News Digital has been unable to independently verify the details of the report, but a National Parks Service official disputed the account.
In his letter, Sullivan said that one of the construction vehicles involved in the project had a 3-by-5 foot American flag affixed to it, but for “reasons that remain unclear, someone at the National Park Service (NPS) caused the construction crew to remove the American flag.”
“This is an outrage – particularly in the lead-up to our most solemn national holiday, Memorial Day, a time when Americans come together to honor those that gave their lives in service to our nation, while wearing our country’s flag,” Sullivan wrote. “The American flag, especially on Memorial Day weekend, should be celebrated, not censored by federal government employees.”
The Alaska senator noted that he could find no regulations that would prohibit the flying of American flags on public land, arguing that such a regulation would be odd given that the purpose of national parks is for “the enjoyment of American citizens.”
