Reno, Nev. • A state board wants to change the name of a mountain peak in eastern Nevada’s Great Basin National Park to more appropriately recognize a geological area important to a native tribe instead of honoring a Confederate leader from the Civil War.
The Nevada Board of Geographic Names voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend to a federal panel in charge of making such decisions that the name of Jeff Davis Peak be changed to the Shoshone name Doso Doyabi.
The phrase — pronounced “DOH-soh doy-AH-bee” — means “White Mountain” in the native dialect.
Tribal elders say it’s a reference to the fact the summit of the 12,771-foot mountain near the Utah line was covered in snow year-round.
Support for a name change emerged in 2017 during a push to remove Confederate monuments nationally after race-based violence in Charlottesville, Va.