|
|
|
|
Peak name-change advocates unmoved by local opposition |
|
|
Tuesday, 23 September 2008 |
|
By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
9-20-2008 The heated discussions and debates that have taken place locally and on the Internet in regards to renaming North Palisade after David Brower have surprised and even shocked one of Brower’s personal friends and a member of the Committee for Brower Palisade.
John de Graaf, a documentary filmmaker and coauthor of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic,” has said the move to rename the peak west of Big Pine is more than just a local issue here in the Sierra.
De Graaf said he began actively looking to rename North Palisade after Brower about a year ago. “People have been talking about naming a peak after David Brower for a long time,” he said. “I think it started with Galen Rowell,” the late Bishop resident, conservationist and legendary photographer and mountaineer.
According to de Graaf, he wants to see North Palisade renamed to honor Brower for a number of reasons, including Brower’s love for the Palisades and the Eastern Sierra and the work he did to have Kings Canyon (where the peak is located) designated as a National Park.
“If we really want to honor Dave, and he should be honored, I thought it should be a significant peak, and for Brower, the Palisades were one of his favorites in the Eastern Sierra,” de Graaf said.
Brower made the first ascent of the northwest ridge on North Palisade and one of the first winter ascents of the mountain.
The Committee for Brower Palisade says there are other reasons North Palisade is a good choice to bear Brower’s name.
“As early as 1922, Brower was sounding the alarm about global warming and North Palisade has the Palisade Glacier, one of the southernmost glaciers in the U.S.” which has been shrinking due to climate change, de Graaf said.
“Those kinds of things led me to think of the Palisades” when considering what peak should be named after Brower, de Graaf said, adding that “North” Palisade is no longer an appropriate name for the mountain, as there are no longer peaks named South Palisade or Middle Palisade.
De Graaf feels that renaming North Palisade would not hinder tourism to the area, but would encourage more visits to the Sierra.
“I believe it would attract people to the area,” he said. “Interest in Brower would bring people to the area to see the peak that is named after him.”
“I’m surprised at some of the reasons given for opposition to this,” de Graaf said, “I was sort of shocked.”
In response to claims that renaming North Palisade would cost the U.S. government and book-, guide- and map-makers a great deal of money to update literature and maps, de Graaf said that no one would be rushing out to correct content. Rather, when publishers print the next edition of their maps or books, it would reflect the name change, and cost almost nothing.
“These mountains and these national parks are not just Inyo County’s. They are a national treasure, and this is a national figure we want to recognize,” de Graaf said. “Our point is that this is not strictly a local issue. We’re not doing this aimed at climbers, this is about all of us.”
There are still those who would like to see an unnamed peak recognized in Brower’s memory.
Suggestions have been made to name one of the new wilderness areas outlined in the Wild Heritage Act, or name the north-west ridge of North Palisade after Brower, but de Graaf has his sights set on North Palisade.
“We really believe this is an appropriate peak. You could call something ‘Brower Ridge,” but I think a whole mountain would be appropriate,” de Graaf said, adding that he “wouldn’t mind having both” North Palisade and one of the Wild Heritage Act wilderness areas named after his hero.
De Graaf said he doesn’t know how Brower would feel about the movement to have North Palisade after him, but said Brower’s comments about having a submerged peak in Lake Powell bear his name were nothing more than a joke.
“I don’t think we can read the minds of people who are dead, but I do think he would be honored,” de Graaf said.
De Graaf said that if he or a member of the Committee for Brower Palisade were invited to speak with the Inyo County Board of Supervisors about its concerns about renaming the peak, they would be willing to do so, but from his home in Seattle, Wash. it would be difficult for him to travel to the Sierra uninvited.
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 14 October 2008 )
|
|
|
|
