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The historic change, coming at the beginning of a three-day presidential trip to Alaska on Monday, is a sign of how hard the White House will push during Obama's remaining 16 months as president to ensure his fight to address climate change is part of his legacy.

Renaming the mountain, which has an elevation of more than 6,100 metres, makes headlines for his climate quest while also creating goodwill in a state that has not been broadly supportive of the Democratic president.

Obama is slated to tour a receding glacier and meet with people in remote Arctic communities whose way of life is affected by rising ocean levels, creating images designed to build support for regulations to curb carbon emissions.


But Alaska natives had long before called the mountain Denali, meaning the "High One". In 1975, the state of Alaska officially designated the mountain as Denali, and has since been pressing the federal government to do the same.

Alaskans had been blocked in Congress by Ohio politicians, who wanted to stick with McKinley as a lasting tribute to the 25th US president, who served from 1897 until his assassination in 1901.



"I'd like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honour, respect, and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska," said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who led the fight for the Denali name in Congress.

Obama will meet with a group of Alaska native leaders on Monday in Anchorage, as well as with Walker and Murkowski.

Craig Fleener, a Gwich'in Athabascan who is an adviser to Walker, called Denali "a hallmark of Alaskan identity" and said the name change was rich in significance.

The first person to reach the summit of the mountain in 1913 was Koyukon Athabascan Walter Harper, and a member of his expedition, Gwich'in Athabascan John Fredson, who went on to become a leader in the fight for native rights in the state, Fleener said.

Source: Reuters