SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 57

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO TRANSFER FORT WINGATE LAND ADJACENT TO INTERSTATE 40 TO THE NAVAJO NATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES.

     WHEREAS, for generations, the Navajo people have considered the Fort Wingate area to be part of their homeland in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Fort Wingate was identified on Spanish maps in 1778 as Navajo territory; and

     WHEREAS, in 1970, the Indian claims commission decided that Fort Wingate was aboriginal land of the Navajo Nation; and

     WHEREAS, this transfer has been of concern to the Navajo Nation for many years; and

     WHEREAS, documents show that the area was to be returned to the Navajo Nation after the forcible removal of Navajo residents from their homes and land to establish Fort Wingate for temporary federal use during World War II; and

     WHEREAS, the land was transferred by executive order from the federal department of the interior, where it was being held in trust for the Navajo people, to the federal department of defense, where it was to be held until it was no longer required for the war effort; and

     WHEREAS, since the land was decommissioned as a military installation, it is appropriate that the land be returned to the department of the interior on behalf of the Navajo Nation as was originally intended in the executive order; and

      WHEREAS, the property in question, located near Gallup, adjacent to and south of interstate 40, is part of the traditional homeland of the Navajo people; and

     WHEREAS, it is of utmost concern to the Navajo Nation that the land be transferred for the benefit of the Navajo Nation through economic development; and

     WHEREAS, because the Navajo people have occupied and cared for this land for more than three hundred years, it is appropriate that this land be returned to trust status for the Navajo people;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States congress be urged to return that portion of Fort Wingate adjacent to interstate 40 to the department of the interior to be held in trust for the Navajo Nation for economic development purposes; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation, the governor, the secretary of Indian affairs, the president of the Navajo Nation and the speaker of the Navajo Nation council.

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