[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 14, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77899-77900]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31284]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 
St. Paul and Bemidji, MN

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 in the possession of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, St. 
Paul and Bemidji, MN. The human remains and associated funerary objects 
were removed from Goodhue County, MN.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative

[[Page 77900]]

responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 43 CFR 
10.11(d). 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 and associated funerary 
objects was made by Minnesota Indian Affairs Council professional staff 
in consultation with representatives of the Flandreau Santee Sioux 
Tribe of South Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of 
Minnesota; Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; 
Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake 
Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; 
and Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota.
    In 1968, human remains representing a minimum of six individuals 
were removed from the Birch Lake Burial Mound Group, (21GD61), Goodhue 
County, MN, during archeological excavations conducted by the 
University of Minnesota for the Northern States Power Company. The 
University of Minnesota transferred control of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council per 
a transfer agreement dated June 16, 1989. No known individuals were 
identified. The two associated funerary objects are a small ceramic 
mortuary vessel and a ceramic potsherd.
    Based on the material culture and manner of internment, these 
individuals have been identified as Native American. According to 
records in the Office of the Minnesota State Archaeologist, including a 
report by Elden Johnson, the funerary objects and the mound group 
pattern indicate a probable Woodland Period temporal affiliation, a 
broad archeological classification that cannot be identified with any 
present-day Indian Tribe or group.
    Officials of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council have determined, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared group identity 
cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains 
and associated funerary objects and any present-day Indian Tribe.
    The Native American human remains and associated funerary objects 
were removed from the aboriginal land of the Flandreau Santee Sioux 
Tribe of South Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of 
Minnesota; Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; 
Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake 
Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; 
and Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota (Indian Claims Commission, Land 
Claim Map 74). The site is also adjacent to the current Tribal 
lands of the Prairie Island Indian Community.
    Officials of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council have determined, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described above 
represent the physical remains of six individuals of Native American 
ancestry. Officials of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council also have 
determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the two 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 Minnesota Indian 
Affairs Council have determined, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the 
disposition of the Native American human remains and associated 
funerary objects is to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South 
Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Prairie 
Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Santee Sioux Nation, 
Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, 
South Dakota; Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; and Upper Sioux 
Community, Minnesota.
    Representatives of any other Indian Tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects or any other Indian Tribe that believes it 
satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should contact James L. 
Jones, Cultural Resource Specialist, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 
3801 Bemidji Ave. N., Suite 5, Bemidji, MN 56601, telephone (218) 755-
3223, before January 13, 2011. Disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of 
South Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; 
Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Santee Sioux 
Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse 
Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit Lake Tribe, North Dakota; and Upper 
Sioux Community, Minnesota, may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council is responsible for notifying 
the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian 
Community in the State of Minnesota; Prairie Island Indian Community in 
the State of Minnesota; Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-
Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit 
Lake Tribe, North Dakota; and Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota, that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 7, 2010.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-31284 Filed 12-13-10; 8:45 am]
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