Feds suggest name changes for six Fresno places with offensive names. Here’s the list

Fresno-area residents can provide feedback to a federal task force that will change the name of six places in Fresno County as part of an effort to replace more than 660 geographic features nationwide with the name “squaw.”

The word, which is a slur against Native American women, was officially declared a derogatory term in November by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland — the first Indigenous woman to serve as a United States cabinet secretary.

Since then, a 13-member Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force comprised of representatives of from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, National Park Service, Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Forest Service, has been working on a list of alternative names based on local geographic features and places.



The process is meant to expedite name changes across the nation.

“Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nation’s public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds. Consideration of these replacements is a big step forward in our efforts to remove derogatory terms whose expiration dates are long overdue,” Haaland said in a new release. “Throughout this process, broad engagement with tribes, stakeholders and the general public will help us advance our goals of equity and inclusion.”

Now, the task force is asking for feedback from both Native American tribes and the general public on the proposed name replacements.



The task force will incorporate the feedback into their final recommendations for the U.S. Board on Geographic Names when they convene later this year.

List of proposed Fresno-area name changes

In response to Haaland’s announcement, the U.S. Geological Survey produced a list of all official feature names that include the word “squaw,” that could be impacted by the secretarial order.

The proposed replacement names were selected through a search of nearby named geographic features until at least five nearby names were available.



The candidate replacement names will replace the derogatory modifiers. This means that if “Castle Creek” was the closest named feature to “Squaw Mesa,” the first candidate replacement name for the derogatory named feature would be “Castle Mesa.”

Here is the list of geographic features and names under review for Fresno County:

1. Squaw Valley (Basin), GNS ID 253924: Ruth Hill, Bear Mountain, Wooten Creek, Mill Creek, Dalton Mountain
2. Old Squaw Lake, GSN ID 264336: West Pinnacles Creek, The Pinnacles, Turret Peak, South Fork Bear Creek, East Pinnacles Creek
3. Squaw Lake, GSN ID 267633: Silver Divide, Silver Pass, Silver Pass Creek, Cascade Valley, Fish Creek
4. Squaw Leap (Cliff), GSN ID 267635: San Joaquin River, Big Sandy Creek, Millerton Lake, Auberry Valley, Kennedy Table
   
   
5. Squaw Valley (Populated Place), GSN ID 1659853: Tretten Canyon, Bear Mountain, Mill Creek, Dalton Mountain, Wooten Creek, Nuum Valley
   
   
6. Squaw Valley (Census Designated Place), GSN ID 2408799: Wooten Creek, Mill Creek, Hoffman Point, Sierra Nevada, Sand Creek
   
   

For Fresno County’s Squaw Valley Populated Place, the name Nuum Valley was proposed last month by the “Change S Valley” Coalition. Still, the coalition says that they are open to any name, as long as the current name is replaced.

In total, there are 85 places in California that feature the derogatory name and will undergo name changes. All name change proposals are available for review online.

Want to provide comment on this list? Here’s how

Members of the public can provide feedback and comments over the next 60 days, or by April 25, either online or by mail.

To submit comments by mail: Reconciliation of Derogatory Geographic Names, MS–511, U.S.Geological Survey, 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20192.

To submit comments online, visit: federalregister.gov/d/2022-03748 and follow the instructions on the webpage.

Note: all submissions must include the agency name and Docket Number DOI2022-0001. Submissions should also include the Feature ID (FID) of the feature(s) of interest when submitting your comment. A list of candidate names and their feature IDs is available here.

All comments received will be posted without change to regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.

To request additional information, submit your question or request to SO3404_FRNquestions@usgs.gov, or contact Michael Tischler at 703-344-4348.

Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 800-877-8339, or dial 711.

This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

Melissa Montalvo

The Fresno Bee

559-212-4425

Melissa Montalvo is The Fresno Bee’s accountability reporter. Prior to this role, she covered Latino communities for The Fresno Bee as the part of the Central Valley News Collaborative. She also reported on labor, economy and poverty through newsroom partnerships between The Fresno Bee, Fresnoland and CalMatters as a Report for America Corps member.