A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ABIDE BY THE WISHES OF THE NAVAJO NATION AND THE MESCALERO APACHE TRIBE REGARDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PROPOSED LONG WALK NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL.

     WHEREAS, in 1863, the United States government detained hundreds of Mescalero Apaches and forced their migration from their homeland in the Sacramento mountains near Fort Stanton to the Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner, where they were incarcerated until they escaped; and

     WHEREAS, beginning in 1863, the United States government detained nearly nine thousand Navajos and forced their migration on foot across more than three hundred miles from their homeland in the Four Corners area to the Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner, where they were incarcerated; and

     WHEREAS, in 1868, more than seven thousand Navajos were permitted to return on foot to their homes in the Four Corners area from their place of detention in Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner; and

     WHEREAS, hundreds of Navajos died at Bosque Redondo and on the forced marches from the Four Corners area to Bosque Redondo and back; and

     WHEREAS, the routes taken by the Mescalero Apaches and the Navajos from their homelands to Bosque Redondo may be known as the "Long Walk Trail"; and

     WHEREAS, the United States department of the interior and the national park service have undertaken a feasibility study regarding the designation of the Long Walk Trail as a national historic trail;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that any decision regarding the designation by the United States department of the interior and the national park service of the Long Walk Trail as a national historic trail should be in conformance with policy decisions regarding such a proposed designation adopted by the legislative bodies of the Mescalero Apache Tribe and the Navajo Nation; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the United States secretary of the interior, the director of the national park service, the president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the president of the Navajo Nation, the speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.