| Hello, FOIA Files readers. This week, I’m taking you back to Jan. 20th, President Donald Trump’s first day in office. That's when he signed an executive order calling for North America’s tallest peak, Denali, to revert back to its previous name, Mount McKinley. Curious about the internal response from the the US Board on Geographic Names and the National Park Service, which operates the Denali National Park and Preserve, I fired off Freedom of Information Act requests to both. They responded by sending me more than 200 pages of emails, text messages and other documents. It turns out it will take years for the name change to be reflected everywhere, from signs to maps to park brochures! If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here. There have been many names for the 20,310-foot mountain located in central Alaska: Local native groups called it Denali, which means “the tall one” in their Athabaskan language; Russian explorers called it Bulshaia Gora, for “big one.” After the US purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, it went by various names, including Mount McKinley after a gold explorer informally gave it that name in honor of the then-Republican president-elect William McKinley. It wasn’t until 1917, sixteen years after McKinley was assassinated, when the mountain and the 6 million acres of park land that surround it were officially christened Mount McKinley and Mount McKinley National Park, according to the National Park Service. Historians have noted that McKinley the man, an Ohioan, never visited the mountain prior to his death and had no connection to it. That fact has led to numerous attempts over the past century to rename the mountain and the park. In 1975, the State of Alaska formally requested that the US Board on Geographic Names, the federal body tasked with maintaining consistent geographic name usage throughout the federal government, rename Mount McKinley, Denali. Over the next 40 years, Ohio congressional lawmakers repeatedly blocked Alaska’s efforts. The name of the broader park, however, was changed in 1980 to Denali National Park and Preserve. In 2015, then-President Barack Obama was visiting Alaska to talk about climate change. During the visit, then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell signed an order to change the name of the mountain from Mount McKinley to Denali, the original native name. At the time, Obama’s White House said the restoration of the name "recognizes the sacred status of Denali to generations of Alaska Natives." When Trump issued his executive order to change the name of the mountain, yet again, back to Mount McKinley he cited an unusual inspiration: tariffs, the weapon he’s been using as part of his trade policy discussions. Trump wrote that President McKinley “championed tariffs to protect U.S. manufacturing, boost domestic production, and drive U.S. industrialization and global reach to new heights.” (The name change does not affect the name of the broader Denali National Park and Preserve.) I obtained a really good cache of records from the National Park Service and the US Board on Geographic Names. The documents from late January and February not only reveal how personnel handled Trump’s executive order, they also show how some in the public reacted to the name change and the agencies’ responses to the barrage of media queries about it. (Officials at the US Board on Geographic Names weren't eager to speak with reporters about the matter as the email below makes clear.) What was surprising to me is the amount of time it could take to change Denali to Mount McKinley. According to the emails, the whole effort could take up to five years. That means the name change may not be implemented until Trump is out of office, at which point it’s possible the name could revert back to Denali! The project is time consuming because it requires National Park Service personnel to edit and review its website, change thousands of pages of documents and publications, install dozens of new signs throughout the park and print new brochures and maps. Working on just that portion alone would cost taxpayers around $90,000, the documents reveal. Not everybody was happy with Trump’s decision. Members of the public lodged complaints with both agencies. “Please resist! Stand tall like the bears and moose! Keep it Denali,” one person wrote to the National Park Service. Others sent panicked inquiries about obtaining souvenirs, such as junior ranger books, baseball caps, badges and brochures before Denali was scrapped. Another person, in contrast, was irate that the National Park Service hadn’t yet updated its website to reflect the name change. “Put Mt McKinley in your information as directed,” the person wrote four days after Trump issued his executive order. Park officials warned at the time that it would take time to roll out the name change. For example, it noted that “some print material replacements cannot be produced in time for the 2025 summer season, and staff will continue to distribute those materials with the Denali name.” The documents also include dozens of pages of chat messages among National Park Service employees who were tasked with editing and rewriting language on at least 480 webpages to reflect the new name. You really get a sense for how tedious their work is. “In some places I did not change Denali to McKinley, I simply took the word off entirely,” one employee said to another. “For example, instead of Denali mountaineering rangers, I changed it to mountaineering rangers (this way we won’t have to change it back in four years, or whenever).” Got a tip for a document you think I should request via FOIA? Do you have details to share about the state of FOIA under the Trump administration? Send me an email: jleopold15@bloomberg.net or jasonleopold@protonmail.com. Or send me a secure message on Signal: @JasonLeopold.666. | 
