[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86370-86371]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27363]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037048; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Sierra National Forest, Clovis, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 
Service, Sierra National Forest has completed an inventory of human 
remains and associated funerary objects and has 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 Fresno County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Kim Sorini-Wilson, Sierra National Forest, 29688 Auberry 
Road, Prather, CA 93651, telephone (559) 855-5355, 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 
Sierra National Forest. 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 Sierra 
National Forest.

Description

    In 1977, human remains representing, at minimum, five individuals 
were removed from sites CA-FRE-613 (1), CA-FRE-682 (1), CA-FRE-741 (2), 
and CA-FRE-747 (1) on the Sierra National Forest in Fresno County, CA, 
by Don Wren of Fresno City College (FCC) as part of planning for a 
proposed hydroelectric project. Sites CA-FRE-613, CA-FRE-682, CA-FRE-
741, and CA-FRE-747 lie in the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills on 
lands managed by the Forest Service. This area is well-documented 
ethnographically as the territory of the Holkoma people. All four sites 
include features and artifacts indicative of late-precontact 
occupation, and two of them also evidence a proto-historic occupation.
    In January of 2017, an osteological examination of the faunal 
remains collected from the excavations and curated at FCC was conducted 
to determine if human remains were present. That examination resulted 
in the identification of the human remains listed in this notice. All 
the human remains are fragmentary. A total of two bone fragments and 27 
teeth, representing a minimum of five individuals, were identified. No 
known individuals were identified. The 13 associated funerary objects 
are 11 beads (five glass, three shell, two steatite, one of unknown 
material) and two steatite sherds.

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 information, archaeological information, 
and geographical information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Sierra National Forest has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of at least five individuals of Native American 
ancestry.
     The 13 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 Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono 
Indians of California.

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

[[Page 86371]]

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 January 12, 2024. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Sierra 
National Forest 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 Sierra National Forest is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations 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: December 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-27363 Filed 12-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P