00                       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3                                                                     
01 Opposing efforts to change the name of the tallest mountain in North America from                                       
02 Denali to Mt. McKinley, and supporting efforts to recognize the heritage and continuing                                 
03 importance of the mountain and of Alaska Native peoples.                                                                
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS the Koyukon Athabaskan name Denali, which translates to "the high                                       
06 one," has been used as the name for the tallest mountain in the state for thousands of years;                           
07 and                                                                                                                     
08       WHEREAS the name Denali evokes the appropriate respect and recognition                                          
09 throughout the world for the tallest mountain in North America, with an elevation of 20,310                             
10 feet; and                                                                                                               
11       WHEREAS, in 1896, prospector William Dickey christened the mountain Mt.                                         
12 McKinley after William McKinley of Ohio, then a candidate for President of the United                                   
13 States, who never visited the state; and                                                                                
14       WHEREAS, on June 7, 1913, Walter Harper, a 20-year-old Athabaskan man from the                                  
15 interior of the state, became the first person to stand on the summit of the mountain; and                              

01       WHEREAS, in 2015, after decades of advocacy, the United States Department of the                                
02 Interior changed the name from Mt. McKinley to the Koyukon Athabaskan name Denali; and                                  
03 WHEREAS using the Koyukon Athabaskan name Denali respects thousands of years                                          
04 of the tradition and culture of and stewardship by Alaska Native peoples in the state;                                  
05       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes efforts to change the                                  
06 name of the tallest mountain in North America from Denali to Mt. McKinley; and be it                                    
07       FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports efforts to                                          
08 recognize the heritage and continuing importance of the mountain and of Alaska Native                                   
09 peoples.                                                                                                                
10 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Donald J. Trump, President                                   
11 of the United States; the Honorable J. D. Vance, Vice President of the United States and                                
12 President of the U.S. Senate; United States Secretary of the Interior; and the Honorable Lisa                           
13 Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Nick Begich,                                 
14 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.