[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62532-62533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24968]


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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 and associated funerary 
objects 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 and associated funerary objects were 
removed from a site on Army Corps of Engineers land within the John Day 
Dam project area, Klickitat County, WA.
    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 and associated funerary objects. 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 and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon; and Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho.
    Native American cultural items described in this notice were 
excavated under an Antiquities Act permit by the University of Oregon, 
Eugene, OR, on Army Corps of Engineers project land. Following 
excavations at the site described below, and under the provisions of 
the permits, the University of Oregon was allowed to retain the 
collections for preservation.
    In 1965, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were removed from site 45-KL-5, also known as the Alderdale Site, 
Klickitat County,

[[Page 62533]]

WA, during excavations by the University of Oregon prior to 
construction of the John Day Dam. No known individuals were identified. 
The 55 associated funerary objects are 1 stone knife/scraper; 1 bone 
awl; 1 obsidian flake; 15 assorted flakes and shatter fragments; 1 
unmodified angular basalt piece; 3 animal bones; and 33 animal bone 
fragments.
    Site 45-KL-5 is located on the now-inundated, north side shoreline 
of the Columbia River adjacent to the town of Alderdale, WA. Recovered 
artifacts, ethnographic accounts, and informant reports indicate the 
site served as a long term camp or village. At the time of the National 
Park Service sponsored excavations, the site was described as heavily-
looted, vandalized, and damaged by the effects of ongoing erosion. 
Radiocarbon dates obtained from the site, though not from the burial 
contexts, suggest the area was occupied from at least circa 1770 120 
years BP into the historic period, as informant reports indicate the 
site was still used as an Indian village during the early 20th Century.
    Based on the associated funerary objects and the location of the 
human remains within the site, all three individuals have been 
determined to be Native American. Oral histories and published 
ethnographic documentation indicate the site described above is within 
the shared, traditional territory of the Wishram, Yakama, Skin-pah, 
Wasco, Tenino, Western Columbia River Sahaptin groups, and Nez Perce 
bands. Descendants of the Wishram, Yakama, Skin-pah, and other 
ancestral groups are members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of 
the Yakama Nation, Washington. Descendants of the Umatilla, Walla 
Walla, and Cayuse tribes are members of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon. Descendants of the Wasco, Tenino, 
and other culturally-affiliated Western Columbia River Sahaptin groups 
are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation 
of Oregon. Descendants of Nez Perce groups are members of the Nez Perce 
Tribe of Idaho.
    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 three 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District have also determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 55 objects described above are 
reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual human 
remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or 
ceremony. Lastly, officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Portland District 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 associated 
funerary objects and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon; and/or Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects 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 and 
associated funerary objects to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon; and/or Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho 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 and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; 
and Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 10, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-24968 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
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