[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9624-9625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-4670]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: U.S. Department 
of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA and Phoebe A. 
Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 
Berkeley, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate a cultural item in the control of the U.S. Department of 
Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA, and in the physical 
custody of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (Hearst Museum), 
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, that meets the 
definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural 
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    On an unknown date, one unassociated funerary object was removed 
from site 45BN157, Jaeger's Island, located on the U.S. Department of 
Energy's Hanford Site on the south bank of the Columbia River, Benton

[[Page 9625]]

County, WA, by Francis Riddell, and accessioned into the Hearst Museum 
in 1951. The one unassociated funerary object is a bead (catalog 2-
40752).
    Museum documentation indicates that the bead is from a talus 
burial, and that the museum does not hold human remains from this 
burial. This type of cultural item is consistent with other funerary 
objects found in the Columbia River area during occupation by the 
Yakama, Walla Walla, and Wanapum groups.
    Ethnographic documentation indicates that the present-day location 
of the Hanford Site, Benton County, WA, is located within an 
overlapping aboriginal territory of the Yakama, Walla Walla, and 
Wanapum groups. The descendants of the Yakama, Walla Walla, and Wanapum 
are represented today by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington, and Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho are also known to have used the 
area routinely.
    Officials of the Department of Energy and the Hearst Museum have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the one cultural 
item described above is 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 and is believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual. Officials of the Department of Energy and the 
Hearst Museum 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 unassociated funerary object and the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Nez 
Perce Tribe, Idaho. Furthermore, officials of the Department of Energy 
and the Hearst Museum have determined that there is a cultural 
relationship between the unassociated funerary object and the Wanapum 
Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary object should 
contact Annabelle Rodriguez, U.S. Department of Energy, Cultural/
Historic Resources Program, Richland Operations Office, 825 Jadwin 
Avenue, MSIN A5-15, Richland, WA 99352, telephone (509) 372-0277, 
before April 6, 2009. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary object 
to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Nez 
Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian 
group, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group, are claiming jointly all cultural items from the Hanford 
area.
    The Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office is responsible 
for notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: January 26, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-4670 Filed 3-4-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S