HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 11

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE STATE PARKS DIVISION OF THE ENERGY, MINERALS AND NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT TO DESIGNATE THE SHIP ROCK PINNACLE AS A STATE MONUMENT.

     WHEREAS, the Ship Rock pinnacle is a significant geologic feature within the Navajo Nation and is located in San Juan county approximately thirteen miles from the town of Shiprock; and

     WHEREAS, the Ship Rock pinnacle is an outstanding example of an exposed volcanic neck, rising one thousand four hundred feet above the surrounding four-corners New Mexico plain, that can be seen for a hundred miles and that is accompanied by radiating dikes rising one hundred fifty feet in height; and

     WHEREAS, the name Shiprock apparently came into use in the 1870s, as indicated by United States geological survey maps, because Anglo-Americans in the area noticed the similarity between the Ship Rock pinnacle and the nineteenth-century clipper sailing ships of the time; and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo word for the Ship Rock pinnacle is "tse bit'ta'i", meaning "rock with wings"; and

     WHEREAS, the Ship Rock pinnacle is of great religious and historical significance to the Navajo Nation and has a number of Navajo myths and ceremonies associated with it; and

     WHEREAS, in May 1975 the Ship Rock pinnacle was designated by the United States national park service as a national natural landmark; and

     WHEREAS, the planning commission of the Shiprock chapter of the Navajo Nation has duly recommended that the Ship Rock pinnacle be designated as an official park of the state of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation; and

     WHEREAS, on November 4, 2007, the Shiprock chapter of the Navajo Nation unanimously adopted a resolution requesting Governor Bill Richardson to designate the Ship Rock pinnacle as a New Mexico state park;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state parks division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department be requested to conduct a feasibility study regarding the designation of the Ship Rock pinnacle as a state monument; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state parks division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department present its feasibility study and its recommendations regarding the designation of the Ship Rock pinnacle as a state monument to the appropriate interim legislative committee no later than October 1, 2008; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the secretary of energy, minerals and natural resources, the director of the state parks division, the president of the Navajo Nation, the speaker of the Navajo Nation council and the president of the Shiprock chapter of the Navajo Nation.

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