[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39506-39507]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16208]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-10467; 2200-1100-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Tongass National Forest, Craig Ranger District, Craig, 
AK

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, 
Tongass National Forest, has completed an inventory of human remains, 
in consultation with the appropriate Indian tribe, and has determined 
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and a 
present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains may 
contact the USDA Tongass National Forest. Repatriation of the human 
remains to the Indian tribe stated below may occur if no additional 
claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the USDA 
Tongass National Forest at the address below by August 2, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Forrest Cole, Supervisor, Tongass National Forest, 648 
Mission Street Federal Building, Ketchikan, AK 99901-6591, telephone 
(907) 225-3101.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the

[[Page 39507]]

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 of USDA Tongass National Forest, Craig Ranger District, 
Craig, AK. The human remains were removed from site DIX-00013 on Prince 
of Wales Island in southeast Alaska.
    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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by USDA Forest 
Service professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Hydaburg Cooperative Association.

History and Description of the Remains

    On an unknown date prior to 1987, human remains representing, at 
minimum, one individual were removed from site DIX-00013 on Prince of 
Wales, AK. In that year, a resident of Hydaburg on Prince of Wales 
Island, AK, came into possession the human remains, which consisted of 
a skull. The skull was later seized as a part of a criminal 
investigation on January 2, 1990. The resident said a friend had found 
it on the beach on Prince of Wales Island prior to 1987. That friend 
took the skull to Seattle, WA, for a time and eventually sent it to the 
resident in Hydaburg. The USDA Forest Service took possession of the 
skull, and it was stored at the Craig Ranger District where it remains 
today. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    The area of the discovery of the human remains was the aboriginal 
lands of the Hydaburg Cooperative Association, according to 
consultation with the tribe and ``Haa Aani Tlingit and Haida Land 
Rights and Use'' by Walter Goldschmidt and Theodore H. Haas, first 
issued in 1948, reprinted in 1988 by the Sealaska Heritage Association. 
During consultation with the Hydaburg Cooperative Association, it was 
discovered that a tribal elder knew the details of exactly where the 
skull was taken, an area clearly defined in Haa Aani and by the tribe 
as the aboriginal lands of the Hydaburg Cooperative Association.

Determinations Made by the USDA, Forest Service, Tongass National 
Forest

    Officials of the USDA, Forest Service, Tongass National Forest, 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 Hydaburg Cooperative Association.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Forrest 
Cole, Supervisor, Tongass National Forest, 648 Mission Street Federal 
Building, Ketchikan, AK 99901-6591, telephone (907) 225-3101 before 
August 2, 2012. Repatriation of the human remains to the Hydaburg 
Cooperative Association may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The USDA Forest Service is responsible for notifying the Hydaburg 
Cooperative Association that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 31, 2012.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-16208 Filed 7-2-12; 8:45 am]
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