The Minnesota DNR has approved changing the name of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis to Bde Maka Ska (pronounced buh-DAY muh-CAH-skuh), the original Native American Dakota name. It comes after a vote in late November by the Hennepin County commissioners. A group called “Save Lake Calhoun” has threatened a court appeal. D-N-R Commissioner Tom Landwehr on that: “What I can say is that our legal counsel has gone over all of the statutory authorities as well as the case law and has concluded that we’re within the authority to approve the change, so we did.”
Landwehr says the D-N-R’s role is limited to ensuring the county followed the proper process, and as far as objections to the name change: “Those types of cultural considerations really we rely on the elected officials from Hennepin County to take those considerations into effect and use that in their decision-making process. So we don’t try to second-guess the counties on that.”