The decision-makers tasked with recommending whether to change the name of the Sutter Buttes have kept both proposals on hold as the debate nears its second year.
The first proposal, submitted in March 2024, sought to remove the reference to John Sutter — the Swiss immigrant widely associated with early Sacramento and California history, whose legacy has drawn renewed scrutiny — and rename the landmark Sacred Buttes.
A second proposal, filed about a year ago, aimed to restore the volcanic formation visible from Sacramento and Chico on clear days to a name closer to its Native American roots, where the Sutter County landmark held sacred significance. That resulted in the suggestion Middle Mountain.
Both proposals remain deferred, pending additional stakeholder input before advancing to the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names, according to the agenda for the committee’s March 6 meeting.
A U-2S Dragon Lady training aircraft flies above the Sutter Buttes after taking off from Beale Air Force Base near Marysville, Calif., in April 2025. State officials have deferred two proposals to rename the Sutter Buttes as debate over the landmark’s name enters its second year and awaits further review by the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com
The state committee reviews name-change applications for California landmarks and determines whether to recommend proposals to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for final consideration.
Gita Chandra, a spokesperson for the California Natural Resources Agency, said in an email that the committee — which operates under the agency — must also comply with Assembly Bill 2022. The law requires the removal and replacement of derogatory or offensive names for geographic features and roads.
“Our processes involve careful review and outreach before any recommendations are finalized,” she said. “At this time, we are unable to comment on the timing of the review for the renaming of the Sutter Buttes.”
To change or not to change?
When the first proposal gained attention, it drew opposition and support from residents. Public backing for keeping the name Sutter Buttes included a petition drive and a letter signed by Sutter County supervisors opposing the change.
Supervisors said at the time they were focused on preserving the county’s origins and place in California history, rather than defending Sutter himself. Historical accounts describe Sutter, a Swiss immigrant and early California settler, as enslaving Indigenous people and forcing tribes to work in inhumane and sometimes deadly conditions.
In their letter to the state committee and federal board, county officials included petition sheets labeled “Keep the name Sutter Buttes,” bearing more than 1,500 signatures from residents of Sutter County and neighboring communities.
Sutter County Supervisor Mike Ziegenmeyer represents the district that includes the southern portion of the Sutter Buttes, which rise near the unincorporated town of Sutter.
“We in this community who live here, we want to see it called the Sutter Buttes,” Ziegenmeyer said. “At the same time, we want to respect their history. It’s tough.”
Tundra swans take flight in a flooded rice field with a view of the Sutter Buttes in the background off of Kimball Lane in Marysville on Nov. 1, 2012. Lezlie Sterling Sacramento Bee file
The town of fewer than 3,000 residents shares its name with the landmark, which has officially been known as the Sutter Buttes since 1949. As an unincorporated area, it is among 21 California features bearing the Sutter name under the jurisdiction of the federal board.
Sutter, who arrived in California in the 1830s, built Sutter’s Fort in 1839 and founded the settlement of New Helvetia near the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers. His land east of present-day Sacramento became the site of the 1848 gold discovery that sparked the California Gold Rush. His son, John Sutter Jr., later founded the city of Sacramento, cementing the family name across the region.
Workers remove a statue of John Sutter, a Swiss settler who built the first European settlement on the site of the city of Sacramento, outside Sutter hospital in midtown on Monday, June 15, 2020. Some historical accounts describe Sutter as using Native Americans as slaves and raping Native American girls as young as age 12. DANIEL KIM Sacramento Bee file
But Sutter’s legacy has long been disputed.
Historical accounts and later academic research describe him as enslaving hundreds of Native Americans, forcing Indigenous people to labor at the fort and punishing or pursuing those who attempted to flee.
In 2020, amid nationwide protests over racial injustice, a bronze statue of Sutter outside Sutter Health Medical Center in midtown Sacramento was vandalized with red paint and later removed. Nearby Miwok Middle School, once honoring Sutter, was renamed in 2023.
Defenders have argued he should be judged in the context of his era.
The formation, meanwhile, often described as “the world’s smallest mountain range,” has had numerous names over time, many tied to Native American cultures, including the Nisenan and Maidu peoples.
“I 100% respect them, but I respectfully ask that we keep the name the Sutter Buttes and that we pay respect to their history, to their historical presence in the buttes,” Ziegenmeyer said. “Can’t we do both, is what I’m getting at?”
The original proposal was filed by Rachel Rein, a Nevada County resident who at the time was a member of the Sutter Buttes Land Trust. She proposed the name Sacred Buttes. The land trust did not participate in the application and took a neutral stance.
“It feels especially harmful for a landmass that is sacred to multiple Native American tribes to retain the name of someone who is infamous for his horrific treatment of Native Americans,” Rein’s proposal reads.
Shelly Covert, a spokesperson for the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, submitted a counterproposal to the federal board in February 2025, requesting the name Middle Mountain, an English translation of the original Nisenan name.
“The goal is to remove the current name, which creates false heroism around a man undeserving of such status,” she wrote.
Rein and Covert did not respond to requests for comment.
The Sutter Buttes proposals are among eight applications listed as deferred for the committee’s March meeting. The next committee meeting is scheduled for June 26.
Hikers make their way up the final push to the summit of Yana Peak on Jan. 17 in the Sutter Buttes mountain range a few miles northwest of Yuba City. Land around the Buttes is privately owned, limiting access to the peaks. The Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust hosts a limited number of hikes in the area in winter, early spring and fall. Carl Costas Special to The Bee
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee
The Sacramento Bee
Jake Goodrick covers Sutter County for The Sacramento Bee as part of the California Local News Fellowship Program through UC Berkeley. He previously reported and edited for the Gillette News Record in northeast Wyoming.