[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64463-64464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20190]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036574; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Southwest Region, Albuquerque, 
NM

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 Department of the Interior, Fish and 
Wildlife Service (USFWS) intends to repatriate a certain cultural item 
that meets the definition of a sacred object and that has a cultural 
affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in 
this notice. The cultural item was removed from Cherokee County, OK.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after October 19, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Victoria Owens, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 329, 
Albuquerque, NM 87103, telephone (505) 248-7897, 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 
USFWS. 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 summary or related records held by the USFWS.

Description

    One cultural item was removed from Tahlequah, Cherokee County, OK. 
Dennis R. ``Siera'' McPherron received the cultural item from William 
Smith, who was head of the Central Cherokee Medicine Council in the 
late 1980s. When the cultural item was seized by the USFWS in 2016, Mr. 
McPherron's traveling companion was Mr. Henry Vann, who is William 
Smith's nephew and a member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee 
Indians in Oklahoma. The sacred item is a Golden Eagle feather.

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural item in this notice is connected to one or more 
identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a 
relationship of

[[Page 64464]]

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: oral traditional and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the USFWS has determined that:
     The one cultural item described above is a specific 
ceremonial object needed by traditional Native American religious 
leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by 
their present-day adherents.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item 
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by 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 cultural item in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after October 19, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the USFWS must determine the most 
appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the cultural item are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The USFWS is responsible for sending a copy of 
this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: September 11, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-20190 Filed 9-18-23; 8:45 am]
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