A lake at Mount Rainier National Park will be renamed under a new policy that seeks to remove the term “squaw” from geographical locations throughout the nation, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Squaw Lake in Mount Rainier National Park already has five potential names that have been recommended. They include Devils Dream Creek, Satulick Mountain, Iron Mountain, Indian Henrys Hunting Ground and Mount Ararat.
Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland, who is the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history, commissioned a task force to replace the name of every geographic feature in the nation that contains squaw. The term refers to Native American women and is considered derogatory, stated a news release.
The task force will release recommendations for name changes at over 660 geographic locations in the U.S., each of which will come with a list of five potential new names.
The lake is located on the Wonderland Trail that circles the entirety of Mount Rainier. It is about 5 ½ miles northwest by trail from Longmire and 12 miles west of the Paradise visitor area.
