As an ardent opponent of renaming the Gore Range, I was heartened to read the front page article “Gore name change opposed” in which a Grand County commissioner condemned the proposal as not worth the time to discuss it.

I suspect this will become something of a norm for government entities with much more pressing issues in the 12 jurisdictions that the Gore Range spans. The idea is not only unnecessary, but foolish. The resulting confusion and repercussions of changing a longstanding name known to generations for some 150 years for no practical reason is quite questionable.

This misguided and foolish idea not surprisingly comes from a proposal by a former Summit County commissioner. Proponents notwithstanding, there never has been a Native American name for the mountains known as the Gore Range nor has there ever been any Native American activism in the past for renaming this range other than recent promptings by proponents to come up with the contrived name of Nuchu, a word never before applied to this range.

Those with similar sentiments can join the Keep Our Gore Range Name effort by voicing their thoughts to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names as per its website. The board does not render its decisions based on popularity contests but seeks public input from interested parties and renders its decisions according to its manual of “principles, policies and procedures.”

And from a reading of this, it becomes readily apparent that renaming the Gore Range will be very difficult to do.