A number of conservation groups and local governments have expressed support for naming a mountain in the Madison Range after a prominent conservationist who died earlier this year.
Maddy Pope, a project manager for the Trust for Public Land, has been heading up the effort to name a peak in memory of Alex Diekmann, who worked for the group until he died of cancer earlier this year.
“It seems like a really good way to commemorate his legacy and his work,” Pope said.
The peak the group identified in the Madison Range is partially on the Sun Ranch and partially on U.S. Forest Service land, part of a major land deal he helped negotiate. It is 9,765 feet tall and unnamed.
The idea has support from many conservation and environmental groups as well as the Madison County Commission and the Gallatin County Commission. The Gallatin County Commission voted unanimously to write to all three members of Montana’s congressional delegation in support of the deal on Tuesday.
“There couldn’t be a better thing to honor him and memorialize him than with a peak,” said Joe Skinner, a Gallatin County commissioner.
They are trying to get the designation through an act of Congress, which would be considerably faster than trying to accomplish it through the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The board’s policy says they can’t consider a commemorative name until five years after a person has died. If the designation were to pass both houses of Congress, it would be official once the measure is signed into law.
Diekmann’s wife, Lisa, said naming a peak would be very special for the family. She said the Madison Range was a meaningful place for her husband and their two sons, and that because it is publicly accessible it would align with the spirit of his work.
“The location is awesome,” Lisa said. “It will be protected forever and that was what he dedicated his professional career to.”