73 FR 228 pgs. 71674-71675 - Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR
Type: NOTICEVolume: 73Number: 228Pages: 71674 - 71675
FR document: [FR Doc. E8-28005 Filed 11-24-08; 8:45 am]
Agency: Interior Department
Sub Agency: National Park Service
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR
AGENCY:
National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION:
Notice.
Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains for which the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR, and U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR, have joint responsibility. The human remains were removed from an undetermined location in Benton County, OR, during an Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored development project.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3). The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
In 1951, human remains representing a minimum of eight individuals were removed from an undetermined location in Benton County, OR, by the Army Corps of Engineers during construction of a levee near the Willamette River. The location, referred to as "Fir Grove," was situated somewhere between Albany and Corvallis, OR. Following their removal from the area, the human remains were transferred to the University of Oregon for preservation. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
Museum accession notes indicate that stone tools and cultural objects were found in association with the human remains, but none of the cultural items were transferred to the University of Oregon Museum. Based on distinctive osteological evidence and the documented association of the human remains with the observed artifacts, the individuals have been determined to be Native American.
Ethnographic records suggest the area between present-day Albany and Corvallis, OR, was occupied by Kalapuya bands during the early Contact Period. The human remains described above are believed to have been removed from an area within or near the traditional lands of the Kalapuyan peoples whose descendants are members of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon include at least 26 tribes and bands whose ancestral homelands span western Oregon, southwestern Washington and northern California. The Grand Ronde tribes and bands include the Rogue River, Umpqua, Chasta, Kalapuya, Molala, Clackamas, Salmon River, Tillamook, and Nestucca, as well as other, smaller groups. At the time of contact, the individual groups spoke 30 dialects of the Athapascan, Chinookan, Kalapuyan, Takelman, Molalan, Sahaptin, Salishan, and Shastan language families. In 1856-1857, the U.S. Government forcibly relocated the Grand Ronde peoples to the Grand Ronde Reservation, located at the headwaters of the South Yamhill River in Yamhill and Polk Counties, OR. The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon were first incorporated in 1935, terminated from Federal recognition in 1954, and restored to recognized status in 1983.
The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, are a confederation of 30 bands whose ancestral territory ranged along the entire Oregon coast and Coast Range, inland to the main divide of the Cascade Range and southward to the Rogue River watershed. The principal tribes include the Clatsop, Chinook, Klickitat, Molala, Kalapuya, Tillamook, Alsea, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, Coquille, Upper Umpqua, Tututni, Chetco, Tolowa, Takelma or Upper Rogue River, Galice/Applegate, and Shasta. The ancestors of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation spoke at least 10 different base languages, many of which had strong dialectic divisions even within the same language. In general, five linguistic stocks - Salish, Yakonan, Kusan, Takelman, and Athapascan - are represented by the tribes. The tribes were forcibly removed from their homelands in 1855 by the U.S. Government and placed on the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations. After having their tribal status terminated from Federal recognition in 1954, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon were officially restored to recognized status in 1977.
Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above represent the physical remains of at least eight individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District have also determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Daniel Mulligan, NAGPRA Coordinator, Environmental Resources Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946, telephone (503) 808-4768, before December 26, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains to the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is responsible for notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon that this notice has been published.
Dated: October 30, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-28005 Filed 11-24-08; 8:45 am]
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