HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 15

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH TO ENCOURAGE THE CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE FORT SILL, CHIRICAHUA-WARM SPRINGS APACHE TRIBE'S ABORIGINAL TERRITORY IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, members of the federally recognized Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe are the descendants of the Mogollon Apache, Mimbres Apache, Copper Mine Apache, Warm Springs Apache and Chiricahua Apache tribes whose aboriginal territory, former reservation and Indian title lands included much of southwest New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, those tribes maintained aboriginal and Indian title to their land in New Mexico and Arizona until the final surrender of the great Apache, Geronimo, his war party and the remaining tribal members to the United States military on September 4, 1886; and

     WHEREAS, the entire tribe was taken into captivity in 1886 and remained in captivity until 1913, when the surviving members were released, with two-thirds of the members transferred to the Mescalero Apache Tribe reservation, thus becoming members of that tribe, and the remaining members released in Oklahoma, becoming federally recognized as the Fort Sill Apache in 1976; and

     WHEREAS, the members of the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe continuously sought to return to their aboriginal homelands in New Mexico, which were the lifeblood and heritage of the tribe; and

     WHEREAS, the spirits of the ancestors of the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe, including Cochise, Geronimo, Victorio, Lozen, Naiche and Mangas Coloradas, are interwoven into the fabric of New Mexico's history and culture; and

     WHEREAS, a major triumph for the Fort Sill, Chiricahua- Warm Springs Apaches in returning to their homeland was the proclamation by the federal assistant secretary of Indian affairs of approximately thirty acres of land in Akela Flats, Luna county, New Mexico, as the Fort Sill Apache Indian reservation for the Fort Sill Apache Indian Tribe and promulgated in volume 76, issue 228, page 72969 of the federal register on November 28, 2011; and

     WHEREAS, the tribe has operated a cultural awareness center, restaurant and smoke shop operated pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Act since 2007 on the tribe's federal Indian trust land at Akela Flats in Luna county, New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apaches' federal Indian reservation at Akela Flats and the surrounding lands have significant cultural and historical importance for the tribe and surrounding communities; and

     WHEREAS, the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe encourages involvement and participation by working hard to educate citizens of the area by providing cultural awareness of the heritage of southwest New Mexico and the tribe's historical significance; and

     WHEREAS, the tribe is working to increase cultural awareness, tourism and economic development in southwest New Mexico through collaboration with local, state and federal partners; and

     WHEREAS, the tribe has possession and access to significant cultural and historic artifacts, which it will display to the public at Akela Flats in Luna county;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it request the executive branch, through its departments and agencies, to encourage the cultural and economic development of the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe within the tribe's legally defined homelands, as held in the United States court of claims in Fort Sill Apache Tribe v. United States, and throughout southwest New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the chair of the Fort Sill, Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache Tribe, Governor Susana Martinez, the leaders of the other twenty-two Indian nations, tribes and pueblos located in New Mexico and the New Mexico congressional delegation.

- 4 -