The Washington State Board of Natural Resources approved the naming of a Whatcom County peak for first man on record to have summited it during the Board meeting Tuesday morning.

 

The Board of Natural Resources, acting as the Washington State Board on Geographic Names, also approved the naming of a lake in Okanogan County to correctly spell the surname of the man who homesteaded the property around it.

 

The Washington State Committee on Geographic Names gave final approval to the two proposals during its July 26 meeting.

 

 

A lake northwest of Winthrop is now named Rizeor Lake for Henry Rizeor, a homesteader who owned the property around the lake. The lake is informally known in the area as Riser Lake, and this would formalize the proper spelling of Rizeor’s surname.

 

 

A mountain without an official name is now named Kloke Peak in honor of Dallas Kloke, an Anacortes mountaineer who completed the first documented ascent of the peak in 1972. Kloke, a longtime teacher in Oak Harbor, died in 2010 during a climbing accident in the North Cascades. His fellow members of the climbing community picked the peak to name in his honor in part because it can be seen along State Route 9 near Acme.

 

The approved names will be added to the Washington Administrative Code, and the Board now passes them along to the United States Board on Geographic Names for federal review.

 

 

Detailed information on all initial and final proposals, including maps, historical information, and supporting documentation can be found on the Board of Natural Resources page under the About tab on the DNR website. Information on the policies and procedures of the committee can be found in the same location.

 

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