[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 47 (Thursday, March 11, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 11555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5169]



[[Page 11555]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
National Park Service, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, 
Mosca, CO

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 in the possession and 
control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Mosca, CO. The human 
remains were removed from an unspecified site in Alamosa County, CO.
    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 
superintendent, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Great Sand 
Dunes National Park and Preserve professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Navajo 
Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly 
the Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Southern 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian 
Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; Ute Mountain Tribe of 
the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah; and Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The Pueblo of Acoma, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; and Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico were 
contacted for consultation purposes but did not attend the consultation 
meetings.
    Between 1966 and 1968, human remains representing a minimum of 
three individuals were removed by George Owen Doty, a local resident, 
from an unspecified site south of Great Sand Dunes National Park and 
Preserve in Alamosa County, CO. After Doty's death in the 1980s, the 
human remains were found among his effects by his niece and were turned 
over to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in 2002. No known 
individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    A nondestructive osteological analysis by forensic anthropologists 
in Fort Collins, CO, and the fact that Doty had been an avid collector 
of American Indian artifacts indicate that the human remains are likely 
prehistoric Native American.
    Officials of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve 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. Lastly, officials of Great Sand Dunes 
National Park and Preserve have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001 (2), a relationship of shared group identity cannot reasonably be 
traced between the Native American human remains and any present-day 
Indian tribe.
    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review 
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific 
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. In 
February 2009, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve requested 
that the Review Committee recommend disposition of the three culturally 
unidentifiable human remains to the Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute 
Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah because the human 
remains were found within the tribe's aboriginal and historical 
territory. The Review Committee considered the proposal at its May 23-
24, 2009, meeting and recommended disposition of the human remains to 
the Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New 
Mexico & Utah.
    A September 16, 2009, letter from the Designated Federal Official, 
writing on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, transmitted the 
authorization for the park to effect disposition of the physical 
remains of the culturally unidentifiable individuals to the Ute 
Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & 
Utah contingent on the publication of a Notice of Inventory Completion 
in the Federal Register. This notice fulfills that requirement.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Art 
Hutchinson, superintendent, Great Sand Dunes National Park and 
Preserve, 11500 Highway 150, Mosca, CO 81146, telephone (719) 378-6311, 
before April 12, 2010. Disposition of the human remains to the Ute 
Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & 
Utah may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is responsible for 
notifying the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation, 
Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the 
Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, 
New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; 
Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; Ute Mountain 
Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: February 18, 2010
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-5169 Filed 3-10-10; 8:45 am]
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