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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039250; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Carson National Forest (CAF), intends to carry out the disposition of human remains removed from Federal or Tribal lands to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization with priority for disposition in this notice.

# DATES:

Disposition of the human remains in this notice may occur on or after January 29, 2025. If no claim for disposition is received by December 30, 2025, the human remains in this notice will become unclaimed human remains.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Erin E. Brown, Forest Archeologist, USDA Forest Service, Carson National Forest, 208 Cruz Alta Road, Taos, NM 87571, telephone (575) 779-4827, email                         *erin.brown@usda.gov*.                    

# 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 CAF, and additional information on the human remains in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the identifications in this notice.

## Abstract of Information Available

Based on the information available, human remains representing, at least, one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated funerary objects are present. A single human tooth was mailed to the Jicarilla Ranger District of the Carson National Forest in August 2002 by a private individual. While hiking the individual encountered what was initially thought to be the bottom of a ceramic vessel near a fallen log. The individual removed soil around the “vessel” and found the vessel was actually a human skull. The individual explained the tooth was removed so the Forest Service could “date” the site. Attempts to locate the source of the tooth were unsuccessful. Known archeological sites in the area of the discovery are a mix of Ancestral Puebloan Pueblo I and Early Navajo sites. The Jicarilla Ranger District is located in Rio Arriba County, NM.

## Determinations

The CAF has determined that:
    - The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
    - Based on geographic affiliation, the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma; Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Santo Domingo Pueblo; Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona; Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, & Tawakonie), Oklahoma; Yselta del Sur Pueblo; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico have priority for disposition of the human remains described in this notice.

## Claims for Disposition

                    Written claims for disposition of the human remains in this notice must be sent to the appropriate official identified in this notice under                     **ADDRESSES**                    . If no claim for disposition is received by December 30, 2025, the human remains in this notice will become unclaimed human remains. Claims for disposition may be submitted by:                

1. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization 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 they have priority for disposition.

Disposition of the human remains in this notice may occur on or after January 29, 2025. If competing claims for disposition are received, the CAF must determine the most appropriate claimant prior to disposition. Requests for joint disposition of the human remains are considered a single request and not competing requests. The CAF is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties.

*Authority:*                     Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3002, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.7.                

Dated: December 19, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.

[FR Doc. 2024-31287 Filed 12-27-24; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4312-52-P