Twenty-eight Colorado geographic features with the word “squaw” in their names are poised to bear new titles.

The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board, the state board that reviews suggested name changes, will soon begin soliciting public input on replacement names for those features, with an April 4 deadline for the public to submit comments.

The rush to submit names is being prompted by a November decision by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to declare the word “squaw” derogatory and to charge a federal task force with coming up with new names for any geographic feature with that name. Haaland is scheduled for a trip to Colorado starting Friday.

Overall, there are 655 geographic features nationwide that will see new names in the coming months.

Federal order on changes for squaw-named features means Colorado board will have to hustle

The federal task force has the option of looking for names from nearby geographic features as replacements, but replacement names already submitted will also be accepted for review. That’s according to Jennifer Runyon, a liaison to the Colorado board from the US Board on Geographic Names, part of the U.S. Geological Survey within the Interior Department.

The task force will aim to avoid duplicate names or other names that could be considered offensive, as well as likely to avoid names of people, since it has little time to vet those names, Runyon told the Colorado board last month. 

The Colorado board will meet April 10 to review the suggestions submitted by the public and forward those recommendations to Gov. Jared Polis, who has final say.

An online form being developed by the state Department of Natural Resources will list the geographic features, the county in which they’re located, with a place for the proposed new name. That form will be online on the board’s website in the coming days.

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