[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62530-62531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24966]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and University of 
Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains for which the University of 
Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR, and U.S. 
Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, 
Portland, OR, have joint responsibility. The human remains were removed 
from property that would be later designated Army Corps of Engineers 
land within the Bonneville Lock and Dam Project area, Wasco County, OR.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3). 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the 
University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History and U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Warm 
Springs Reservation of Oregon, and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Native American cultural items described in this notice were 
originally removed from public domain land (prior to U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers acquisition of the property) by three private collectors and 
later donated to the University of Oregon.
    At an unknown date during the 1890s, human remains representing one 
individual were removed from Lower Memaloose Island, Columbia River, 
Wasco County, OR, by a private collector whose name is withheld, and 
donated to the University of Oregon in 1938. No known individual was 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. Although 
historic period artifacts were originally found in direct association 
with the human remains, none were donated to the University of Oregon.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing one individual were 
removed from Lower Memaloose Island, Columbia River, Wasco County, OR, 
by a private collector whose name is withheld, and donated to the 
University of Oregon in 1950. No known individual was identified. No 
information has been found concerning possible burial associations. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of three 
individuals were removed from an unspecified ``sand island in the 
Columbia River near The Dalles, OR'' or Lower Memaloose Island, 
Columbia River, Wasco County, OR, by an unidentified University of 
Oregon student, and donated to the University of Oregon in 1913. No 
known individuals were identified. No information has been found 
concerning possible burial associations. No associated funerary objects 
are present.
    Lower Memaloose Island is located in the center of the Bonneville 
Dam Reservoir (Lake Bonneville), approximately 3 river miles west of 
the city of Lyle, WA, and 8 miles east of Hood River, OR. The island 
was long-used by local Native American peoples

[[Page 62531]]

as a cemetery. Based on physical characteristics, osteological 
evidence, and the location of the human remains on the island, all five 
individuals have been determined to be Native American.
    Lower Memaloose Island is within the traditional territory of 
Chinookan- and Sahaptin-speaking groups represented by the present-day 
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington. Per the 
1855 Treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon, the Confederated Tribes 
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon signers were comprised of 
three Chinookan-speaking Wasco bands and four Sahaptin-speaking Warm 
Springs bands. The Uto-Aztecan-speaking Northern Paiutes, also part of 
the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, 
joined the confederation in the 1870s. The Wasco and Warm Springs bands 
traditionally occupied the south shore of the Columbia River and its 
tributaries from Cascade Locks to just east of the present-day city of 
Arlington, OR. The 14 Sahaptin, Salish, and Chinookan-speaking tribes 
and bands of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington, traditionally lived on the Washington side of the Columbia 
River between the eastern flanks of the Cascade Range and the lower 
reaches of the Yakima River drainage. Representatives of the 
Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Community of Oregon, whose 
membership also includes Chinookan-speakers, have indicated that Lower 
Memaloose Island is outside of their pre-Contact territory.
    Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human 
remains described above represent the physical remains of five 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District also have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group 
identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Daniel 
Mulligan, NAGPRA Coordinator, Environmental Resources Branch, U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 
97208-2946, telephone (503) 808-4768, before November 20, 2008. 
Repatriation of the human remains to the Confederated Tribes of the 
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is responsible 
for notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of 
Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, 
and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 10, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-24966 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S