[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 161 (Friday, August 21, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42320-42321]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-20104]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Saint Martin's Waynick Museum, 
Lacey, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    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 in the possession of the 
Saint Martin's Waynick Museum, Lacey, WA. The human remains were 
removed from a site near Vantage, Kittitas County, WA.
    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 Saint 
Martin's Waynick Museum professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from a site near Vantage, by the Interstate-90 
Bridge, in Kittitas County, WA. Around 1995, Mr. Willis Clark donated 
the human remains to the Saint Martin's Waynick Museum, along with his 
collection of cut and polished rocks. No known individual was 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    The remains of this individual consist of a partly fragmented 
cranium, a mandible broken into three pieces, eight unattached teeth, 
and skull fragments. On August 18, 2006, Dr. Stephen Fulton, Associate 
Professor of Biology at Saint Martin's University, concluded that the 
human remains in question match notes on an index card that was in the 
same box as the remains. The note states, ``This skull and bones found 
in shallow grave some 20 years ago on the bank of the Columbia River, 
about 5 miles from old Vantage bridge. The area is under water at 
present.''
    Ethnographic documentation indicates that the Vantage area was the 
aboriginal territory of the Moses-Columbia or Sinkiuse, Yakama, and 
Wanapum (Daugherty 1973, Miller 1998, Mooney 1896, Ray 1936, Spier 
1936), whose descendants are represented today by the Confederated 
Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes and 
Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Wanapum Band, a non-
Federally recognized Indian group.
    Officials of the Saint Martin's Waynick Museum have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of one individual of Native 
American ancestry. Officials of the Saint Martin's Waynick Museum also 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is

[[Page 42321]]

a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced 
between the Native American human remains and the Confederated Tribes 
of the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Brother 
Luke Devine, Saint Martin's Waynick Museum, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE., 
Lacey, WA 98503, telephone (360) 438-4458, before September 21, 2009. 
Repatriation of the human remains to the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group, as joint claimants, may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    Saint Martin's Waynick Museum is responsible for notifying the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and 
Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: August 7, 2009
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-20104 Filed 8-20-09; 8:45 am]
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