HJM 11

Page 1

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 PARK.

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

HJM 11

Page 2

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 park; 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 park 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

HJM 11

Page 3

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.