[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 61 (Friday, March 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19296-19297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07358]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-12390; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: History Colorado, formerly 
Colorado Historical Society, Denver, CO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: History Colorado, formerly Colorado Historical Society, has 
completed an inventory of human remains, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes, and has determined that there is no cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and any present-day Indian 
tribes. Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains may contact History 
Colorado. Disposition of the human remains to the Indian tribes stated 
below may occur if no additional requestors come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact History 
Colorado at the address below by April 29, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Sheila Goff, History Colorado, 1200 Broadway, Denver, CO 
80203, telephone (303) 866-4531, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 under 
the control of History Colorado, Denver, CO. The human remains were 
removed from Suncor Energy USA Pipeline Company property, Adams 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) 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. The National Park Service 
is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by History 
Colorado professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne and 
Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma (previously listed as the Cheyenne-Arapaho 
Tribes of Oklahoma); Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Crow Tribe of Montana; 
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; 
Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; 
Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; 
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, 
Montana; Oglala Sioux Tribe (previously listed as the Oglala Sioux 
Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota); Ohkay Owingeh, New 
Mexico (previously listed as the Pueblo of San Juan); Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New 
Mexico; Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Southern 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Standing 
Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of 
the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota; Ute Mountain Tribe of the 
Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah; Wichita and 
Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The Apache Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; and the Rosebud Sioux 
Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota, were invited to 
consult but did not participate. Hereafter all tribes listed above are 
referred to as ``The Consulted and Invited Tribes.''

History and description of the remains

    In March 2012, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Suncor Energy USA Pipeline Company 
property in Adams County, CO. The human remains were discovered while 
Suncor was excavating a trench as part of mitigation efforts concerning 
high levels of benzene in the soil. The Adams County Coroner initially 
believed this was a forensic case and removed the remains with the 
assistance of a Metro State College forensic anthropologist. The burial 
investigation and extensive osteological analysis determined that the 
remains were of a middle-aged male of Native American ancestry found in 
a secondary burial and of no forensic interest. The remains were then 
transferred to History Colorado, where they are referred to as Office 
of Archaeology and Historic Preservation No. 288. No known individuals 
were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    At the time of the excavation and removal of these human remains, 
the land from which the remains and objects were removed was not the 
tribal land of any Indian tribe. In August 2012, History Colorado 
consulted with all Indian tribes who are recognized as aboriginal to 
the area from which these Native American human remains were removed. 
These tribes are the Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, 
Wyoming; Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma (previously listed as 
the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma); and the Northern Cheyenne 
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana. None of 
these Indian tribes agreed to accept control of the human remains. They 
requested in writing that this individual be dispostioned according to 
the Process for Consultation, Transfer and Reburial of Culturally 
Unidentifiable Native American Human Remains Originating From 
Inadvertent Discoveries on Colorado State and Private Lands (Process). 
Consultation with the additional tribes listed under Consultation in 
this notice was conducted October 2012 to January 2013 to determine 
disposition. Under the Process, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the 
Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain Tribe of the 
Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah agreed to accept 
disposition of the human remains.
    In 2006, History Colorado, in partnership with the Colorado 
Commission of Indian Affairs, Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern 
Ute Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute 
Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah, conducted tribal 
consultations among the tribes with ancestral ties to the State of 
Colorado to develop the process for disposition of culturally 
unidentifiable Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects originating from inadvertent discoveries on Colorado State and 
private lands. As a result of the consultation, a process was 
developed, Process for Consultation, Transfer, and Reburial of 
Culturally Unidentifiable Native American Human Remains and Associated 
Funerary Objects Originating From Inadvertent Discoveries on Colorado 
State and Private Lands, (2008, unpublished, on file with the Colorado 
Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation). The remains described 
above were recovered in the Great Plains Consultation Region, 
established by the Process, and tribes consulted are those who have 
expressed

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their wishes to be notified of discoveries in this region.
    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review 
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific 
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. On 
November 3-4, 2006, the Process was presented to the Review Committee 
for consideration. A January 8, 2007, letter on behalf of the Review 
Committee from the Designated Federal Officer transmitted the 
provisional authorization to proceed with the Process upon receipt of 
formal responses from the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico, and the 
Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, subject to forthcoming conditions 
imposed by the Secretary of the Interior. On May 15-16, 2008, the 
responses from the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico and the Kiowa 
Indian Tribe of Oklahoma were submitted to the Review Committee. On 
September 23, 2008, the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 
Parks, as the designee for the Secretary of the Interior, transmitted 
the authorization for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable 
human remains according to the Process and NAGPRA, pending publication 
of a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register. This 
notice fulfills that requirement.

Determinations made by History Colorado

    Officials of History Colorado have determined that:
     Based on osteological analysis and burial context, the 
human remains are Native American.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 any present-day Indian tribe.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(2)(ii) and the Process, the 
disposition of the human remains may be to the Southern Ute Indian 
Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain 
Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains or any other Indian tribe 
that believes it satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should 
contact Sheila Goff, History Colorado, 1200 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203, 
telephone (303) 866-4531, email [email protected], by April 29, 
2013. Disposition of the human remains to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe 
of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain Tribe 
of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah may 
proceed after that date if no additional requestors come forward.
    History Colorado is responsible for notifying The Consulted and 
Invited Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: February 19, 2013.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2013-07358 Filed 3-28-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P