City of Woodbury

Park Naming
Dakota Naming Recommendations
Background &
Approach

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Background
SUMMER 2022 > FALL 2022 > WINTER 2022-23 > SPRING 2023 >

• City conducted community • The City recognized that
outreach and asked for
suggestions on park
names
• Naming committee
reviewed community input
and suggested looking
into Dakota names
• City reached out to Dakota
contacts and sought input
on potential names and
received Dakota
translations for names and • 106 Group attended a site
other options in Dakota
• Joey Taylor noted two
areas of Woodbury that
have some significance:
Okicize Wakpadaƞ (Battle
Creek) & Iƞyaƞ Sa (Red
Rock)
the act of naming public
parks and facilities is a
significant and meaningful
process and hired 106
Group to conduct
additional outreach to
Dakota leaders on five
park names and explore
naming policies aligned
with meaningful
Indigenous naming
practices
visit with city staff to
assess the location and
features of five park sites
• 106 Group conducted • 106 Group submitted
research on park-naming memo outlining process,
policies, related to using findings, and
Tribal names and/or recommendations
Indigenous languages, and
assessed the City’s current • Present findings to naming
park names committee for feedback
and input
• 106 Group conducted
outreach to all four
federally recognized
Dakota Tribes to review
the proposed names for
five new parks and
gathered input on overall
naming processes and
practices to support future
partnership

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Approach
Park Naming Policies & Outreach to Dakota Tribes New and Existing Park Name
Guiding Principles Research Recommendations

Foundational and
Outlined guiding
holistic understanding Visit parks and conduct
principles and
of Indigenous place outreach to four
recommendations for
naming approaches federally recognized
park naming and
and case studies of tribes to hear feedback
procedures based on
how other cities and suggestions
research and feedback
approach naming

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Guiding Principles

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Guiding Principles
GUIDING PRINCIPLE #1:

Understand the historical and cultural context within which naming and renaming processes are taking
place.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #2:

Value the importance and practice of naming and name restoration within Indigenous communities.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #3:

Take a holistic and self-reflective approach when cultivating relationships with Dakota communities and
Tribal representatives.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE #4:

Foster a transparent naming approach with clear opportunities for community input.

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Guiding Principles & Resources
Guiding Principle Case Study/Resource

Waḳaŋ Ṭípi (Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, St. Paul, MN)

– Means “home of the sacred” in Dakota and is a sacred
site and a place for gathering and ceremony since time
immemorial.
Understand the
historical and cultural Ḣe Mni Caŋ-Barn Bluff (Red Wing, Minnesota) – Means
context within which “hill, water, wood” and is sacred for Dakota people.
naming and renaming
processes are taking Azaadiikaa Park (East Lansing, Michigan) – Means “Many
place. Cottonwoods” - Resolution Renaming Abbot Road Park
to Azaadiikaa Park showcases the community’s input and
the City’s acknowledgement of ancestral lands and
renaming in order to uphold and honor cultural
continuity of the Anishinaabe.

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Guiding Principles & Resources
Guiding Principle Case Study/Resource

Value the “Place names from memory-work and heart knowledge

importance and could contribute to a physical and cultural landscape that
practice of naming empowers marginalized peoples, values Indigenous
and name restoration knowledge and reminds settler colonizers of the original
within Indigenous and contemporary stewards of colonized lands.” - Bonnie
communities. McGill, Words are Monuments

Minneapolis, Minnesota – City of Minneapolis

Take a holistic and
established a partnership with the Metro Urban Indian
self-reflective
Directors through a Memorandum of Understanding.
approach when
cultivating
California’s State Park System – Reexamining Our Past
relationships with
Initiative: Renamed Patrick’s Point State Park to Sue-meg
Dakota communities
State Park to honor the place name used by the Yurok
and Tribal
people since time immemorial; added new interpretive
representatives.
signage.

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Guiding Principles &
Resources
Guiding Principle Case Study/Resource
Minneapolis, Minnesota – “When it comes to
Foster a name restoration, the processes are all different
transparent depending on the space that you’re in. The lack of
naming approach standardized process prevents proper clarity and
with clear highlights the fact that processes have often
opportunities for been put in place as a barrier to have voices
community input. heard.”- Dr. Kate Beane, Flandreau Santee Sioux
Tribe

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Outreach

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Tribal Historic Preservation Offices
Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPO) are Shakopee
Lower Sioux Prairie Island
officially designated by Tribes and serve the same Mdewakanton Upper Sioux
Indian Indian
function as a State Historic Preservation Office, but Dakota Community
Community Community
they are not a requirement. Tribes can elect to not Community
participate, but those that do each have
coordinators to assist in preservation efforts of
No additional Provided Provided Provided
Tribal historic properties and cultural traditions.
feedback Recommendations Recommendations Recommendations
The National Park Service’s Tribal Historic
Preservation Program assists Indian tribes in
preserving their historic properties and cultural
Cheyenne St. John Joey Taylor Leonard Wabasha Samantha Odegard
traditions through THPO offices and through
annual grant funding programs. Tribal Historic Tribal Monitor/Land Tribal Historic Tribal Historic
Preservation Officer & Environment Preservation Officer Preservation Officer
www.nps.gov

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Summary of Feedback (106 Group Outreach)
Level 1 Outreach: Park Names Level 2 Outreach: Continued Partnership

• Provide an update on naming status and gather

feedback on five proposed park names and/or
alternate suggestions based on location and features:
Jordan Property
•
• Gain a better understanding about specific areas in
Woodbury that may have special meaning and/or
importance and can contribute to future park
naming.

Canvas/Dundalk Green
Ask about naming traditions to inform the City’s
•
•

• Briarcroft park-naming approach and other ways tribes or

tribal representatives would like to engage with the
Siekmeier/Westwind
sites or park designs and development.
•

• Copper Hills

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Summary of Feedback (106 Group Outreach)
Lower Sioux Indian
Community
No additional feedback
Cheyenne St. John, THPO
We did not hear back from leaders
at Lower Sioux Community
Prairie Island Indian
Community
Provided Recommendations
Joey Taylor, Tribal Monitor/Land &
Environment & Noah White, THPO
Canvas/Dundalk Green be named :
Mdewakantunwan - close to the
Prairie Island property that is in
West Lakeland.
Siekmeier (Westwind): Wakan
Ozanzan OR Dakota simple because
every tribe has a park named after
their tribe and which some tribes are
not from the area and the Dakota
people are not mentioned nor there
is not a parked named after them so
if the city is trying to do the right
thing what better way to honor
the tribes that are here and use
the Dakota name if wakan Ozanzan
isn’t fitting.
Copper Hills: He maza sa
Shakopee Mdewakanton
Dakota Community
Provided Recommendations
Leonard Wabasha, THPO
Likes the name "Wodakota"
“Paha Mazasa” for Copper Hills, a
direct translation
Defers to language specialists for
further recommendations
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Upper Sioux Community
Provided Recommendations
Samantha Odegard, THPO
Prefers no use of Dakota language
unless it is a place or landform that
already had a Dakota name
If Dakota language is used, Dakota
names for places are generally
descriptive of what is there.
Reconsider/change some existing
park names before adding Dakota to
new ones (See table in
Recommendations section for more
information)
Recommendations

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Recommendation Goals

Park/place naming efforts should be

part of a larger and more holistic
Dakota Tribal representatives are
effort to acknowledge Dakota
engaged and interested in working
history in Woodbury, cultivate
with the City of Woodbury on park
partnerships with Dakota Tribes, and
planning and naming projects.
support the Indigenous community
in Woodbury.

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Saint Paul – Highland Bridge Park Example

Excerpt from Highland Bridge Park Naming Recommendations, Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi (formerly known as the Lower Phalen Creek Project)
Wakaŋ (Wah-KAHN) | Tipi (TEE-pee) | Awaŋyaŋkapi (Ah-WAHN-yahn-gah-pee)

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Recommendations & Next Steps
1. Do not give Dakota names to these five parks. These locations do not have existing Dakota place names or specific Dakota
cultural/historical connections.

 Action: Give the parks English names that reference significant landscape features or relate to how the parks will be used. This
practice follows Dakota place-naming practices but can be done in English.

2. Continue engagement w/ Dakota communities and honor Dakota history and people

 Action: Find an opportunity to co-create a park (e.g., proposed park near Jordan property given proximity to Battle Creek)

 Action: Send this memo along with a cover letter thanking Tribal leaders for their thoughtful input and time, summarizing the
decision on park naming, and outlining future relationship-building opportunities.

 Action: Based on feedback from Dakota Leaders, the table in memo details existing park names that should be assessed to
determine if they are ineffectual and/or inappropriate.

 Action: For future park naming, update Woodbury's council directive procedure for assigning names to support equitable place-
naming best practices:
 Naming Process/Procedure (language about how the community is engaged in the naming process)
 Role of Advisory Commission/Committee (detail how the Naming Advisory Committee generates names)
 Renaming Process (outline process for renaming parks and facilities and opportunities for community input)

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Existing Park Names to Assess
Park Name Feedback from Dakota Leaders Classification Review/Origin
Check the spelling of this park name. If intended to be the Dakota word for
Odawa Park Neighborhood Park Council
"song" - Odowa (oh doe wah) - is the correct spelling.
If this park and lake are named after Jonathan Carver, the name signifies the
Carver Lake Park Community Park Adjacent Lake
erasure of Dakota peoples and colonized lands.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Chippewa Park Neighborhood Park Council
date practice.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Cree Park Neighborhood Park Council
date practice.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Menomini Park Neighborhood Park Council
date practice.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Ojibway Park Community Park Council
date practice.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Potawatomi Park Neighborhood Park Council
date practice.
Naming places after other tribes with little or no history here is an out-of-
Shawnee Park Neighborhood Park Council
date practice.

Pioneer Park Signifies land dispossession and the erasure of Dakota peoples. Neighborhood Park Adjacent Road

Pioneer Drive Signifies land dispossession and the erasure of Dakota peoples. Road Council

Settlers Ridge Parkway Signifies land dispossession and the erasure of Dakota peoples. Road Council

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New/Proposed Park Names
New/Proposed Park Notable Features Staff Recommendations
Additional engagement for co-creation
Jordan Property Close to Battle Creek Lake
and naming is needed

Rolling landscape with small hills, valleys and ridges; the

Canvas/ park is on a small rise with land dropping down on all sides.
Conifer Park
Dundalk Green
Close to the Prairie Island property that is in West Lakeland.

The watershed for the entire City of Woodbury drains

Briarcroft Sunset Terrace
through here to the St Croix River.

Relatively large park with many recreational amenities; the

Siekmeier/ Additional engagement for co-creation
park sits in a depression 60 feet below surrounding
Westwind and naming is needed
landscape.

Gentle sloping hills on site; a planned greenway trail will

Copper Hills Copper Hills Park
connect to Glacial Valley Park and other parks.

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