[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14713-14714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04087]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037472; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: California Department of Water 
Resources, Sacramento, CA and California State University Chico, Chico, 
CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), California State University Chico (CSU 
Chico) 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 Butte 
County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dawn Rewolinski, California State University, Chico, 400 W 
1st Street, Chico, CA 95929, telephone (530) 898-3090, 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

[[Page 14714]]

sole responsibility of CSU Chico. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice. 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 CSU Chico.

Description

CA-BUT-521

    Human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals were 
removed from Butte County, CA. Site CA-BUT-521 is located near the 
Coyote Campground and Loafer Creek within the Lake Oroville State 
Recreation Area, which is on land owned by California Department of 
Water Resources (CDWR) and managed by the California Department of 
Parks and Recreation (CDPR). In April and May 1975. CSU Chico 
archeologist Richard E. Markley and his students conducted test 
excavations at CA-BUT-521 prior to construction for an employee housing 
project. In December 2023, CDWR transferred legal control of CA-BUT-521 
to CSU Chico. The 1,143 associated funerary objects are 19 lots 
consisting of beads, 14 lots consisting of organics, two lots 
consisting of clay samples, 258 lots consisting of debitage, 74 lots 
consisting of unmodified faunal elements, 102 lots consisting of 
modified faunal elements, five lots consisting of flakes, 239 modified 
stones, five lots consisting of unmodified stone, one piece of 
petrified wood, 95 lots consisting of unmodified shells, 76 lots 
consisting of soil samples, seven lots consisting of charcoal samples, 
four oversized stone tools, and 242 lots consisting of projectile 
points.

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, archeological information, 
oral tradition, and expert opinion in the form of Tribal traditional 
knowledge.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, CSU Chico has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 1,143 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 Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu 
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 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 March 29, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, CSU Chico 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. CSU Chico is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this 
notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal 
Register and includes the required information, the National Park 
Service is publishing this notice as submitted.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: February 20, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04087 Filed 2-27-24; 8:45 am]
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