The stamp of approval has been given by a Utah legislative committee to draft a bill that seeks to streamline the federal process for changing geographic names in Utah that contain language derogatory to American Indians. Currently there is not a template or an outline of clear instructions that allows changes to geographic features. The legislation would have the state’s Division of Indian Affairs work with the Utah Committee on Geographic Names so that such a template is created so that Native Americans tribes and other communities members could petition the United States Board on Geographic Names for name changes. This legislation comes at a time when several Utahns are trying to rename landmarks that have the word ‘squaw’ in them, as it’s meaning is seen as negative and that the word never appears in the vocabulary of any of the Indigenous people in Utah. Four areas in the Ashley National Forest High Uintas Wilderness are on the list proposing that the word “squaw” be replaced with “Native” including Squaw Basin, Squaw Basin Creek, Squaw Lake, and Squaw Peak.
