###

California officials on Friday officially approved the renaming of more than 30 locations in 15 counties to remove the word “squaw,” which was used for hundreds of years as a derogatory term for Native women.

Among the streets, buildings, cemeteries and other places being renamed you’ll find a small bridge at the southern end of Fieldbrook. Formerly known as Sq__ Creek Bridge, it will henceforth bear the name  “Dulouwirughuqa’n,” which is the Soulatluk (Wiyot language) word for Fieldbrook. (Click this link to hear how it’s pronounced.)

Meanwhile, the underlying creek for which the bridge was named has been rechristened “Tip Top Ridge Creek” by the United States Geologic Survey.

This statewide renaming effort, which is intended to address historic injustices and honor California’s Native American communities, originated with Assembly Bill 2022, authored by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino), signed by Governor Gavin Newsom and implemented by the California Natural Resources Agency.

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved the new bridge name back in July after staff reached out to the Wiyot Tribe, the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria and the Blue Lake Rancheria requesting consultation. The Wiyot Tribe made its suggestion, and the Bear River Rancheria concurred.

Across the state local jurisdictions collaborated with Native American tribes to come up with replacement names while adhering to these three priorities:

1. Honor the original, traditional, or current name used by the tribes to refer to the geographic feature or place.
2. Select names incorporating the local indigenous language(s).
3. Preserve the original intent of the geographic names as a historical record of the cultural landscape (using general descriptors and generic terms such as river, creek, mountain, or an appropriate term from the indigenous language of the area), considering the historical, cultural, or ethnic significance of the original name.

“These changes, proposed by local communities in strong partnership with California Native people, allow all Californians to move forward from a past that denigrated Native women and into present that embraces the beauty, diversity and potential that are a hallmark of this state,” California Tribal Affairs Secretary Christina Snider-Ashtari said in a press release.

There remains a small, private road in Fieldbrook bearing the name “Sq__ Creek Road.” Humboldt County Public Works Director Tom Mattson tells the Outpost that since it’s a private road, he doesn’t believe the county has the authority to change it.