DENALI NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE – President Trump has signed an executive order to rename Denali as Mount McKinley within the month. However, the park surrounding the mountain will keep the name Denali National Park and Preserve, according to the executive order.
The peak was dubbed Mount McKinley in 1917 in honor of President McKinley. But the name Denali, which means “the tall one” or “the great one,” dates back to time immemorial, stemming from the Koyukon word “deenaalee.” At least nine Native groups have had their own unique names for the mountain, which is a sacred part of their ancestral lands.
President McKinley never visited the mountain and had no significant connection to Alaska. Under President Obama, the name McKinley was removed and officially replaced with Denali in 2015. Trump’s executive order called that action an “affront” to President McKinley’s legacy.
“This order honors President McKinley for giving his life for our great Nation and dutifully recognizes his historic legacy of protecting America’s interests and generating enormous wealth for all Americans,” the executive order states.
“You can’t improve upon the name that Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America’s tallest peak, Denali – the Great One,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “For years, I advocated in Congress to restore the rightful name for this majestic mountain to respect Alaska’s first people who have lived on these lands for thousands of years. This is an issue that should not be relitigated.”
Click here to read the full executive order.
National Park News
