Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi is leading a collaboration to develop a toolkit for regional park agencies about park and trail place naming. Joining the Native-led nonprofit are the Metropolitan Council, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and the City of Saint Paul. A deep engagement process is centering the voices of American Indian people. “We’ve been naming things within this region for millennia,” said Carrie Day Aspinwall, Indigenous liaison for the park board. “Most areas that you all are recognizing now already have names. Knowing your history – that’s really important.” Places were named to help people find their way, or perhaps because something significant happened there, she explained. Aspinwall and other project partners spoke to the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission in February. Hearing the diversity of Indigenous voices A series of regional place names sessions began with two engagements last year and will continue with two more this year, with a focus on: Knowledge keepers, Tribal state historical preservation officers, and community leaders (May 2025) Elders: Experienced Dakota and Ojibway leaders (November 2025) Youth: Perspectives on identity, tradition, and cultural continuity (2026) Parks agencies engaged in park or trail place naming or other related American Indian or cultural projects (2026) “The initial effort to center our voices is really important to our Indian elders,” Aspinwall said. “They are our history keepers, our knowledge keepers, our ceremonial keepers.” “The Minneapolis Park Board and Saint Paul Parks have been engaged in ongoing regional park and trail renaming projects with the American Indian community,” said Tracy Kinney, planning analyst in the Met Council’s parks department. “This place name series expands what they have been doing to the regional level.” “The community really appreciates us banding together, not tripling or quadrupling the work on the community,” said Allison Waukau, Met Council Tribal liaison. “They are showing up and acknowledging that.” Themes include relationship to land, honoring ancestors Kinney shared some of the themes that emerged during the May 2025 meeting with knowledge keepers, attended by 50 community members and 7 park agencies. Relationship with land, rather than ownership. Dakota connections to the land and place names reflect relational worldviews rather than ownership. Dakota people are “spatial thinkers” with a continuous relationship to the landscape. Historical erasure and reclamation is real. The current landscape carries the weight of systemic erasure of Dakota people through settler renaming and urban development. Significance of language. The Dakota language is central to place naming and is seen as a vehicle to honor ancestors and restore the worldview. Diverse perspectives. Historically, Dakota people practiced consensus and pluralism, accepting multiple truths and perspectives, meaning that not all Dakota people will agree on every detail due to diverse experiences, dialects, and bands. Renaming as an opportunity for education, healing. Renaming efforts are seen as more than symbolic; they are opportunities for public education, cultural resurgence, relational accountability, healing, and reconciliation. Follow-through is essential. Participants expressed deep frustration with repetitive and “extractive engagement,” where the community is repeatedly asked for input without visible action or follow-through from government institutions. How to be an ally. Allies were called upon to listen, follow Indigenous leadership, and use their positions with institutions to support Indigenous perspectives. Expectations for the draft toolkit As part of the place names series project, the Met Council will develop the toolkit. The web-based toolkit will serve as a resource to regional park agencies to: Support an understanding of place name history, meaning, and processes. House the meeting notes from the listening sessions. Explore regional park and trail place names history and culture. Include case studies of other place names projects in the metro region. “Our intent is to share our learnings with the regional park agencies so as not to exhaust the [American Indian] community with questions,” Kinney said. Met Council Member Wendy Wulff, who serves as a liaison to the parks commission, expressed enthusiasm for the project. She suggested that an online map that included a history of both the Native and settler names for places would be a great educational tool. Listen to the presentation to the Metropolitan Parks and Open Space Commission. (Starts at 28:53) Fulfilling commitments to Native communities made in Imagine 2050 The place names project is directly related to commitments that the Met Council adopted into its regional development guide, Imagine 2050. The Met Council’s American Indian Advisory Council created the commitments as a way for the Met Council to go beyond its land acknowledgment and take significant action. Other projects recommended by the advisory council the Met Council is undertaking related to regional parks and trails include creating: A cultural resources inventory approach for long-range planning in partnership with key stakeholders. A Cultural Landscape subclassification, in coordination with American Indian Tribes, other cultural communities, and regional park agencies. An inventory of and guidelines for harvestable fruits, mushrooms, and other plants in partnership with regional park implementing agencies, American Indian groups, and other partners and interested stakeholders. As part of a broader Met Council effort, a training program and learning opportunities to explore indigenous land management practices and other related topics. Learn about the Met Council’s land, water, and people acknowledgment and commitments to act. Posted In: Parks