[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86376-86377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27371]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037057; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Lahontan National Fish Hatchery, 
Gardnerville, NV

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 Interior, Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Lahontan National Fish Hatchery 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 Douglas County, NV.

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

ADDRESSES: Patrick W. Rennaker, Archaeologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Cultural Resources Team, Columbia Pacific Northwest and 
Pacific Islands (R1), and Pacific Southwest (R8), 20555 Gerda Lane, 
Sherwood, OR 97140, telephone (503) 294-7490, 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 
Lahontan National Fish Hatchery. 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 Lahontan National Fish Hatchery.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals were 
removed from Douglas County, NV. In April of 1969, Richard Messier of 
the National Park Service contacted the Nevada Archaeological Service 
to investigate a burial site which had been exposed during road 
improvement activities. The site was situated on the crest of a hill at 
the junction of Highway 395 and the Fish Hatchery access road six miles 
south of Garnerville. Three distinct burial pits were visible in the 
cut-bank of the hill, with human remains and groundstone present on the 
slope in front of the cut-bank. University of Nevada Reno investigators 
Dr. Don Fowler, Dr. Catherine Fowler, and Dr. Don Hardesty inspected 
the site and determined that the likelihood of further damage was high 
and that the best possible recourse at the time was to recover as much 
of the disturbed material as possible. They subsequently recovered 
human remains from the three burial pits and disturbed human remains 
below the cut-bank. It is noted that a disk shell bead was collected 
from the topsoil fill above the burial pits. No other associated grave 
materials were identified at the time of excavation. National Park 
Service employees also collected several human remains elements before 
the Nevada Archaeological Service arrived, and these were given to the 
investigators upon arrival. The Research Museum at the University of 
Nevada, Reno agreed to house this material on permanent loan from the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    The initial inspection noted that the first individual is probably 
a young adult male between the ages of 14 and 20, the second is an 
adult male, and the third is an adult but too incomplete for further 
comment. The original site records indicate that one shell disc bead 
was present in the fill above Burial One. Another was possibly 
associated with Burial Two. The original notes indicate the beads were 
removed during excavation, but nothing in the paperwork denotes that 
these items were curated. No disk shell beads relating to this 
assemblage could be located during the 1995, 2021, and 2023 inventory 
process. In 2021, Museum staff located four manos labeled as belonging 
to 26DO300 in a stack of artifacts to be rehoused. There is no record 
of these objects in the Summary of Findings. It is assumed that the 
manos were acquired after the original excavation and the associated 
funerary objects arrived at the Museum at a later unknown date from the 
Park Service employees that collected elements prior to the Nevada 
Archaeological Service arrival as noted. The four associated funerary 
objects are four stone manos.

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: based on lifeway, oral tradition, folklore, geography, 
anthropology, ethnography, archeology, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of three individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The four 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 Washoe Tribe of Nevada & 
California (Carson Colony, Dresslerville Colony, Woodfords Community, 
Stewart Community, & Washoe Ranches).

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

[[Page 86377]]

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 Lahontan 
National Fish Hatchery 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 Lahontan National Fish Hatchery 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. 2023-27371 Filed 12-12-23; 8:45 am]
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