Dear Tribal Leader:
The Department of the Interior (Department) is responsible for the stewardship and management of public lands. However, there are many geographic features throughout the Nation that bear names which are considered derogatory.

On November 19, 2021, Secretary of the Interior Haaland signed Secretary’s Order (S.O.) 3404, declaring “squaw” (henceforth written as sq___) as a derogatory term and establishing the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force will review and select replacement names for the 665 geographic features with the term sq___ to submit to the Board on Geographic Names (BGN) for action.

A list of candidate geographic names to replace those declared derogatory will be available for comment during a series of Tribal Consultations to be held consistent with Department policies and procedures. A list of five candidate names for each feature was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These candidate replacement names were derived through a search of nearby named geographic features until at least five nearby names were available. The candidate replacement name will replace the derogatory modifier. For example, “Castle Creek” is the nearest named feature to “Sq___ Mesa”. The first candidate replacement name for the derogatory named feature would be “Castle Mesa”.

The Task Force will consider all comments and any proposed additional candidate replacement names received during the Tribal Consultation period in developing a single recommended replacement name for each feature. The BGN received several proposals to rename a feature covered by S.O. 3404 through their conventional process, and these proposals are not yet resolved. These proposed names are indicated in the enclosed list and are also available at regulations.gov. The Task Force will consider these proposed candidate replacement names ahead of the candidate replacement names that were determined by proximity. Replacement names, to the extent possible, shall adhere to the BGN Principles, Policies, and Procedures for the Domestic Names Committee. BGN Policy V regarding Derogatory and Offensive Names now applies to the word ‘Sq___’ as it is declared derogatory by S.O. 3404. Replacement names proposed during the Tribal Consultation period that are in clear violation of an existing policy will not be considered by the Task Force. The list of all replacement names recommended by the Task Force will be submitted to the BGN Domestic Names Committee for final adjudication.

To inform the Task Force’s recommendations to the BGN, we invite you to participate in the following consultation sessions to provide comments on the list and to provide your recommendations for candidate names to be considered along with the initial list.

• March 21, 2022: 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time
  Mountain Time Zone Tribes
  Register in advance for this meeting: https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsf2tqjgpHeeCaeJZV8O5IvzxVvMKuz4
• March 22, 2022: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time
  Pacific & Alaska Time Zone Tribes
  Register in advance for this meeting: https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItf6rrTsoGWThRM-JXJn_p9diob1iLak
• March 23, 2022: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time
  Eastern & Central Time Zone Tribes
  Register in advance for this meeting: https://doitalent.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsduppj0jH4KEJ2NRwHXPIlfyO6i7g-o

In addition to joining one of the Tribal Consultation sessions listed above, you may submit written comments to taskforce_consultation@ios.doi.gov. Written comments should include the Feature ID (FID) of the feature(s) of interest when submitting your comment. The FID for each feature is located in Column B of the list and must be received by 11:59 PM ET on April 24, 2022, to ensure timely consideration. You may download the list of candidate names at https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/so3404-candidate-names-list. We look forward to speaking with you. If you have any questions, please contact feel free to contact Joseph Younkle at (202) 853-4345 or joseph_younkle@ios.doi.gov.

Sincerely,
Michael Tischler, Ph.D
Director, National Geospatial Program
U.S. Geological Survey
Chair, DOI Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force