[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 119 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40861-40862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13295]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036057; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Portland District, Portland, OR, and Burke Museum of Natural History 
and Culture, Seattle, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland 
District (USACE) and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture 
(Burke Museum) have completed an inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects and have determined that there is a 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this 
notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed 
from Skamania County, WA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after July 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Mr. Daniel M. Mulligan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Portland District, ATTN: CENWP-PME-CR, 333 SW 1st Avenue, Portland, OR 
97204-3495, telephone (503) 808-4768, email 
[email protected] and Dr. Peter Lape, Burke Museum of 
Natural History and Culture, 4303 Memorial Way NE, Seattle, WA 98195, 
telephone (206) 685-3849 Ext. 2, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
USACE. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the inventory or related records held by the USACE and 
the Burke Museum.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from Skamania County, WA. Between 1974 and 1976, the University of 
Washington, under contract with the National Park Service, conducted 
surface surveys and excavations at Site 45SA16, also known as the Fort 
Rains (or Fort Raines) Site, on USACE project land, prior to 
construction of the Second Powerhouse at Bonneville Dam. Following the 
completion of initial surveys and excavations at the site in 1974, 
subsequent surface inspections took place in July of 1976, which 
resulted in Native American human remains and cultural items being 
collected and retained (under the provisions of Antiquities Act 
permits), and subsequently transferred to the Burke Museum for 
curation. It was believed by USACE and Burke Museum officials that all 
NAGPRA items, including Native American human remains, associated 
funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, and items of cultural 
patrimony that had been collected in Skamania County on USACE project 
land and transferred to the Burke Museum had been thoroughly 
inventoried and returned to culturally affiliated Indian Tribes prior 
to 2012. In May of 2022, a rehousing and cataloging project of USACE 
archeological collections at the Burke Museum revealed that a bag 
containing three interior bags had been misidentified as containing 
archeological material recovered from nearby Site 45SA14. Upon 
inspection, one bag contained fragmented human remains and the other 
two bags contained surface-collected materials that are presumed to be 
associated funerary objects recovered from Site 45SA16 in July 1976. No 
known individual was identified. The 15 associated funerary objects are 
seven

[[Page 40862]]

stone flakes; four stone shatter fragments; two glass beads; one stone 
core; and one non-human, unidentified mammal long bone shaft fragment.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, 
peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity 
between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures 
and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The 
following types of information were used to reasonably trace the 
relationship: anthropological, archeological, geographical, historical, 
oral traditional, other relevant information, and tribal expert 
opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the USACE has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of, at minimum, one individual of Native American 
ancestry.
     The 15 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation; Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; Confederated 
Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; Cowlitz Indian Tribe; 
and the Nez Perce Tribe.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal 
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization.
    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after July 24, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the USACE must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The USACE is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: June 14, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-13295 Filed 6-21-23; 8:45 am]
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