Senator blasts federal parks officials for barring American flags in beloved national park

Officials at Alaska’s famed Denali National Park are in hot water 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 actions of officials at Denali National Park, pointing out that the demand for the construction crew to remove the flag was made on the “eve of Memorial Day weekend.”

News of the alleged incident appears to have originated in a report by the Alaska Watchman, a local conservative publication that cited an anonymous construction worker at the park. Fox News Digital has been unable to independently verify the details of the report.

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A view of Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, on Sept. 1, 2015, in Denali National Park, Alaska. (Lance King/Getty Images)

In his letter, Sullivan explained that one of the construction vehicles involved in the project had a 3 x 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.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan (Brandon Bell-Pool/Getty Images)

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Sullivan concluded by demanding that Sams investigate the incident and take steps to “ensure an incident like this does not happen again in American national parks.”

The landscape on Sept. 17, 2019, near Denali, Alaska. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The incident also sparked an apparent protest from Alaska residents, who have organized a “patriotic convoy with flags” from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Denali National Park on Sunday. The protest, which was organized on Facebook, had 23 confirmed participants and over 100 interested as of Sunday morning.

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The National Park Service and Denali National Park did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.