HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 7

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

James Roger Madalena

FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT TO CONDUCT A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON RETURNING CONTROL AND OPERATION OF THE JEMEZ STATE MONUMENT HERITAGE AREA TO THE PUEBLO OF JEMEZ.

     WHEREAS, the Jemez state monument heritage area is one of the most beautiful prehistoric and historic sites in the southwest; and

     WHEREAS, the Jemez state monument heritage area includes the stone ruins of the village of Giusewa, a five-hundred-year-old village of the Pueblo of Jemez; and

     WHEREAS, the village of Giusewa was built over six hundred years ago in the narrow San Diego canyon by the ancestors of the present-day people of the Pueblo of Jemez; and

     WHEREAS, the heritage center contains exhibitions that tell the story of the site through the words of the Jemez people; and

     WHEREAS, the Jemez people built villages in the narrow mountain valley and on the tops of the steep, sculptured mesas of their ancestral homelands in the Jemez state monument heritage area; and

     WHEREAS, the Pueblo of Jemez is a federally recognized Indian tribe with a sovereign government capable of administering the proper care and management of the Jemez state monument heritage area and the historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of scientific interest that are situated in that area; and

     WHEREAS, the state is currently facing dire revenue shortfalls and is considering reducing the size of state government and eliminating services provided by state government; and

     WHEREAS, the Jemez state monument heritage area is best left to the control, care and management of the Pueblo of Jemez;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the cultural affairs department be requested to study the feasibility and requirements for the legislature to transfer ownership and control of the lands owned or controlled by the state in the Jemez state monument heritage area to the Pueblo of Jemez and present its findings and requirements to the appropriate interim committee of the legislature by November 2011; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the Pueblo of Jemez, the secretary of cultural affairs and the director of the state monuments division of the cultural affairs department.

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