Hello Friends and
Supporters of Vancouver Notch,
As you know my Vancouver
Notch proposal was officially named by the Washington Board on Geographic Names
1 Dec 2015. The proposal then went to the US Board on Geographic Names for
consideration. A special survey was performed by an outside surveying company
to examine the coordinates of my original proposal which were determined by the
WA Board on Geographic Names. The surveyor determined that the Vancouver
Notch coordinates were actually deeper within the Puyallup River Gap.
The new coordinates were
based on Puyallup Point and an unnamed summit above the South Puyallup River
north of Round Pass. The center point between these two geographic peaks create
the new coordinates of 46.824 N, -121.917 W.
Unfortunately, the new
coordinates place the feature on the western boundary line of a federally
designated wilderness area of Mt. Rainier National Forest. see purple line on
map.
Since New Names in
Wilderness Areas are not allowed under both WA Board and US Board policies, my
proposal was officially denied by both Boards as of January 3, 2017.
I learned so much in my
journey to officially name a feature, met many amazing people, traveled deep
into the site of the original coordinates at the confluence of the Mowich
and Puyallup Rivers and continue to have great respect for Captain George
Vancouver for recognizing the importance of the "abrupt division” in the
southern foothills of Mt. Rainier. I thank Richard Blumenthal for introducing
me to the Naming of Geographic Features and for Caleb Mackey at the WA
Committee Geographic Names for assisting me in walking my proposal through
the process.
I, along with many others
will always refer to the “abrupt division” in our beautiful view of Mt Rainier
and her foothills as, Vancouver Notch. Google continues to map it with the
old coordinates. At least it is on one map-Google Earth, which is not a bad
consolation prize.
