Dam’s Recreation Area Will Keep Its Old Name Colville Tribe Raises Objections To Changing Grand Coulee Site

Ceremonies today marking the 50th anniversary of the national recreation area behind Grand Coulee Dam won’t include an official renaming, after the Colville Tribe raised objections. The recreation area, created by Congress in 1946, is officially named the Coulee Dam Lake National Recreation Area.

But many people refer to it as Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area because that’s the name of the 130-mile-long lake behind the north-central Washington dam. Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt was christened by President Truman in 1950.

Citing common usage, the National Parks Service wants to formally change the name to the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

“The name change itself was something that occurred as far back as 1992, when there was an effort to standardize the way Lake Roosevelt was referred to,” said Dan Hand, Park Service chief of visitor services at Grand Coulee.

“We are trying to eliminate any confusion on the part of the public.”

Agency officials had hoped to officially change the name today in conjunction with local celebrations, but the plans were put on hold at the Colville Tribe’s request, Hand said.

The tribe probably will support the name change but wants more time to study the proposal, said Joe Pakootas, chairman of the Colville Confederated Tribes’ Business Council.

Today, boosters in four small towns around the dam - Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam, Elmer and Electric City - plan to unveil three plaques commemorating visits by Roosevelt and Truman in a new “Presidents’ Plaza.”

The event - marking the anniversary of Roosevelt’s second and last visit to the dam site on Oct. 2, 1937 - is part of a national “Roosevelt History Month,” said Barbara Meyer of the Chamber of Commerce.

Roosevelt, whose support for the dam made possible the massive Columbia Basin irrigation project, visited in 1934 and 1937, Meyer said.

Between 500 and 1,000 people, including dam workers and others who were on site for the presidents’ visits, are expected to attend, she said.

Businesses and individuals raised more than $7,000 to pay for the 1,000-square-foot memorial plaza and plaques, Meyer said.

Pakootas said tribal officials want to see how the change would fit in with the proposed Lake Roosevelt management agreement involving the Colvilles, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Park Service and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Reclamation.

, DataTimes