NAGPRA

NAGPRA News: Regs on Culturally Unidentifiable Remains to be Published on March 15

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the National NAGPRA site:

CUI RULE TO PUBLISH MARCH 15

The reserved section of the NAGPRA regulations, 10.11, the disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains, is set to publish on Monday, March 15, as a final rule. The rule will be effective on May 14, 2010. During the 60 days, the public may submit additional comments on the rule to Regulations.gov. The comments will thereafter be considered as to whether amendment to the rule is appropriate.

The National NAGPRA Program will offer a webinar prior to the comment deadline, which will include a training on the rule. The webinar date will be announced shortly anticipating a 200 capacity access line.

NAGPRA Claimant Loses Trial but Gains Hawaii Compliance

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion — Brown v State of Hawaii (D. Haw.)

An excerpt:

Plaintiff should be commended for bringing his NAGPRA claim. As the State Defendants’ counsel acknowledged in his opening statement, the claim effectively brought certain issues of noncompliance to light. See 10/21/09 Tr. 96:17-22 (St.’ Defs.’ Counsel) (“In a very perverse way, my client has to thank Mr. Brown for bringing this case. Because although SHPD had been under the belief and understanding that NAGPRA did not apply to it, unless there was a finding on federal or tribal lands, there apparently is a dispute as to whether or not that is an accurate interpretation of the law.”). It appears that, as a direct result of this litigation, SHPD has initiated consultation with the National NAGPRA Program in an effort to come into compliance with the  [*26] statute. Nevertheless, the Court may only issue permanent injunctive relief upon a proper showing. See Reno Air Racing Ass’n, 452 F.3d at 1137 n.10. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the Court finds that Plaintiff has not established that injunctive relief is appropriately issued in his favor at this time because he has failed to show that he has suffered irreparable harm or that he will likely suffer such harm immediately in the absence of injunctive relief. See id.

Boozhoo to Tribal Repatriation Specialist Blog

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Kudos to Eric Hemenway and Little Traverse.

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House Resources Committee Hearing on NAGPRA

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The video is here.

At about the 15 minute mark, Rep. Kildee discusses the Flint dig and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s involvement.

Miigwetch to A.K.

Muskegon Museum Repatriates Remains

Kate Fort

Eric Hemenway continues his good work up at LTBB:

From the Muskegon Chronicle

Ancient Indian remains reburied with dignity

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

By Marla Miller
mmiller@muskegonchronicle.com

MUSKEGON — The aroma of burning sage, cedar, sweet grass and tobacco swirled into the air at the Old Indian Cemetery Tuesday as about 50 people gathered for the repatriation and reburial of Native American bones.

Native Americans believe burning the cleansing herbs brings good spirits to them, and when smoking tobacco and speaking, the words go directly to God, according to Joseph Genia, a Muskegon resident and member of the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians, who led the ceremony.

“Grandfather, have pity on us for digging up our relatives and not doing anything about it,” he said as part of the closing prayer. “Have pity on us and bless us here in this life.”

The centuries-old remains of nine West Michigan American Indians were returned to a proper resting place after a long process led by John McGarry, executive director of Lakeshore Museum Center, and Eric Hemenway, of Harbor Springs.

Hemenway is a research repatriation assistant and member of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. He works with state and federally recognized tribes to pursue the return of Native American remains and sacred objects.

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Public Radio Segment on NAGPRA and Michigan Tribes

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

INTERLOCHEN PUBLIC RADIO (2009-04-22) For the more than a decade now Indian tribes in Michigan and elsewhere have been reclaiming objects lost over the centuries. In many cases they are also able to return to the earth the remains of long-dead ancestors. We’ll meet the researcher who does this work for one of the tribes in northern lower Michigan.

Listen here.

Mott CC Returns Remains to Saginaw Chippewas

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Flint Journal:

For four decades, they sat in wooden, glass-top cases on a shelf waiting to be found.

Forty-four years later, the ancestral remains of a Native American child and adult unknowingly stored at Mott Community College have finally been laid to rest.

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Feds Do Not Enforce NAGPRA — NATHPO Report

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (H/T Falmouth):

“Federal Agency Implementation  Of NAGPRA”
report cover

This study was undertaken to prepare a substantive foundation for assessing the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and identifying where improvements might be made.

The Background section of this report includes historic information that describes one systemic effort that led to Native American ancestors and objects becoming separated from their local communities.  The Research Findings section includes original research, analysis of existing public information, and two national surveys conducted to determine how the Act is being implemented and how Federal agencies and Native Americans are working together to achieve the goals of the Act. Findings and Recommendations included in this report reflect the current state of Federal agency compliance with the Act, as of May 2008.

Foreword and Part I – Executive Summary pdf
Part II – Background pdf
Part III – Research Findings pdf
Part IV – Recommendations pdf
Appendix A – Summaries of Law and Regulations pdf
Appendix B – Survey Respondents pdf
Appendix C – Federal NAGPRA Appropriations and Grant History pdf
Appendix D – Notice of Inventory Completion Chart pdf
Appendix E – Letter From National NAGPRA Program to Grand Canyon NP pdf
Appendix F – “Federal Agency Statistics,” 2006 pdf
Appendix G – Two High-Profile Federal-Tribal Case Studies pdf
Author’s Page and Acknowledgments pdf
Front and Back Covers pdf
Zipped copy of entire report (11.9MB) pdf

Cranbrook Institute to Return Remains to LTBB

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From AP:

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — It’s a matter of “doing the right thing,” according to the director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science, which plans to turn over the remains of about 60 Native Americans to the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.

The bones have spent decades in the back rooms of the suburban Detroit museum, part of its vast collection of artifacts from cultures around the world. They belong to people who hunted and fished in what is now Oakland County hundreds of years before the first Europeans arrived.

This fall, Cranbrook expects to surrender the remains after publication of a notice in the Federal Register to alert other tribes that might want to claim the bones.

“This is a very emotionally and in some respects a politically charged issue,” institute director Mike Stafford told the Detroit Free Press. “We feel we’re doing the right thing. And I hope it inspires other institutions to do the same.”

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Ohio Museums and Universities and Repatriation

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Columbus Disptatch:

At the same time that Ohio State University is preparing to send the remains of American Indians back to West Virginia, the school is returning tissue and blood samples from Yanomamo tribes, at the request of the Brazilian government.

In northeastern Ohio, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has received a letter from Odawa Indians requesting the return of two wooden ceremonial bowls. The Cleveland Museum of Art is talking with Italian authorities who want several antiquities returned.

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