[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 79 (Wednesday, April 24, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17189-17190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08228]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027541; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Oregon Parks and Recreation 
Department, Salem, OR, and Oregon State University, Department of 
Anthropology, Corvallis, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Oregon State University, Department of Anthropology and 
the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) have completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, and have determined that there is a cultural affiliation 
between the human remains and associated funerary objects and present-
day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal descendants 
or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization 
not identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control 
of these human remains and associated funerary objects should submit a 
written request to the OPRD. If no additional requestors come forward, 
transfer of control of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian 
organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the OPRD at the address in this notice by May 
24, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Nancy Nelson, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department 
Archaeologist, 725 Summer Street NE, Suite C, Salem, OR 97301 telephone 
(503) 986-0578.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the

[[Page 17190]]

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 under the control of the Oregon Parks and 
Recreation Department, Salem, OR, and in the custody of the Oregon 
State University, Department of Anthropology, Corvallis, OR. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Site 35CS3, 
Bullard's Beach State Park, Coos County, OR.
    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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Oregon 
Parks and Recreation Department and Oregon State University, Department 
of Anthropology professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Reservation of Oregon (previously 
listed as the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation); 
Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians; and 
the Coquille Indian Tribe (previously listed as the Coquille Tribe of 
Oregon). The Burns Paiute Tribe (previously listed as the Burns Paiute 
Tribe of the Burns Paiute Indian Colony of Oregon); Confederated Tribes 
of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm 
Springs Reservation of Oregon; Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of 
Indians (previously listed as the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians of 
Oregon); and the Klamath Tribes were invited to consult but did not 
participate. Hereafter, all the Indian Tribes listed in this section 
are referred to as ``The Consulted and Notified Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1974, human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals 
were removed from Site 35CS3, Bullard's Beach State Park, Bandon, Coos 
County, OR. The excavation, undertaken by the Department of 
Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) at the request of the 
OPRD was for the purpose of salvaging burials eroding out of the river 
near the boat landing in Bullards Beach State Park. No known 
individuals were identified.
    Most of the human remains belonging to these two individuals were 
returned to the Coquille Indian Tribe for reburial in 1987. The human 
remains in this notice were not returned at that time. The 27 
associated funerary objects are one lot of unknown metal fragments; one 
lot of wood and shell fragments; two lithics; three lots of shell 
fragments; one lot of seed and bone fragments; one lot of flakes; one 
lithic; one lot of unidentified bone fragments and lithics; three lots 
of lithic fragments; one lot of shell and bone fragments; one lot of 
fire cracked rock; one lot of unidentified shell fragments; two lots of 
mussel shell fragments; one metal spike; and seven lots of lithic 
material.
    The Hanis and Miluk Coos were known as the Coos Bay Indians in 1935 
when the Coos Indians asserted in the United States Court of Claims 
that their aboriginal land extended two miles south of the Coquille 
River. The Hanis Coos, who inhabited the Coos Bay area and points south 
as far as Tarheel or Pigeon Point, are the ancestors of the modern day 
Coos section of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and 
Siuslaw Indians. The Coquille Indian Tribe and the Confederated Tribes 
of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians include descendants of the 
Miluk Coos. Beginning around Pigeon Point, including South Slough, and 
going south to the mouth of the Coquille River, the language spoken in 
the lower Coos Bay area was Miluk. The Upper Coquille shared the 
Coquille River watershed with the Miluk Coos. The Confederated Tribes 
of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, are a confederation of 30 bands 
whose ancestral territory ranged along the entire Oregon coast and 
Coast Range, inland to the main divide of the Cascade Range and 
southward to the Rogue River watershed. The principal tribes include 
the Clatsop, Chinook, Klickitat, Molala, Kalapuya, Tillamook, Alsea, 
Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, Coquille, Upper Umpqua, Tututni, Chetco, 
Tolowa, Takelma or Upper Rogue River, Galice/Applegate and Shasta. The 
ancestors of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation spoke at 
least 10 different base languages. In general, five linguistic stocks--
Salish, Yakonan, Kusan, Takelman, and Athapascan--are represented by 
the tribes. The tribes were forcibly removed from their homelands in 
1855 and placed on the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations. Federal 
recognition of the tribes was terminated in 1954, but in 1977 the 
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, were officially 
restored to recognized status. Historical, geographic, and linguistic 
evidence indicates the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of 
Oregon and the Coquille Indian Tribe are the most closely associated 
descendants of site 35CS3.

Determinations Made by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

    Officials of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 27 objects described 
in this notice 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.
     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 associated funerary objects and the 
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon (previously listed as 
the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation) and the Coquille 
Indian Tribe (previously listed as the Coquille Tribe of Oregon).

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Nancy Nelson, Oregon Parks and Recreation 
Department Archaeologist, 725 Summer Street NE, Suite C, Salem, OR 
97301, telephone (503) 986-0578, by May 24, 2019. After that date, if 
no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Confederated 
Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon (previously listed as the 
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation) and the Coquille Indian 
Tribe (previously listed as the Coquille Tribe of Oregon) may proceed.
    The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for 
notifying The Consulted and Notified Tribes that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: March 25, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-08228 Filed 4-23-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P