The problem, some advocates and lawmakers say, is that the very formal process for renaming mountains, lakes and gullies does not meet the urgency of the moment.

That argument was endorsed last month by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who declared the word “squaw” to be derogatory and ordered the creation of a task force to scrub it from more than 650 geographic names, as well as a diverse committee to recommend changes to other offensive place names. The moves, she said, will “accelerate” the current process, under which a long-standing federal naming board considers proposals on a case-by-case basis after input from state bodies like Colorado’s. By next fall, “squaw” could be history on U.S. maps.

“Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands,” Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, said in a statement.