FR Doc 03-16803
[Federal Register: July 3, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 128)]
[Notices]               
[Page 39966-39967]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03jy03-99]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: U.S. Department 
of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law 
Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM

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), 43 CFR 10.8 (f), of the 
intent to repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 
Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, that meets the definitions of sacred 
objects and cultural patrimony under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 within this notice are the sole responsibility of 
the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of this 
cultural item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The one cultural item is a 4-inch long piece of stone carved in the 
shape of a horse.
    During 1999 and 2000, the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, 
participated in an undercover investigation of several individuals 
believed to be engaged in the illegal trafficking of Native American 
cultural items. Federal agents purchased or seized several cultural 
items as part of the investigation. On September 10, 2002, Joshua Baer 
and Thomas Cavaliere each pled guilty to three counts of illegal 
trafficking of Native American cultural items obtained in violation of 
18 U.S.C. 1170 (b). On January 3 and February 12, 2003, the U.S. 
District Court for the District of New Mexico ordered that all items 
seized during the investigation be forfeited to the U.S. Department of 
the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law 
Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, and repatriated to the culturally 
affiliated Indian tribes. The carved stone fetish is one of the items 
forfeited to the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM.
    The U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, prepared a summary 
of the cultural items obtained during the investigation. The U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 
Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, also consulted with representatives 
of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & 
Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; and Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of the Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico identified the 
carved stone as a fetish having ongoing religious and ceremonial 
significance to the pueblo as a whole. The tribal representative 
explained that such stone fetishes are to be forever protected as part 
of Laguna tradition. While the stone fetish may have been held by an 
individual, it is considered the communal property of the Pueblo of 
Laguna, New Mexico and could not have been sold.
    Officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(C), this cultural item 
is a specific ceremonial object needed by traditional Native American 
religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American 
religions by their present-day adherents. Officials of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 
Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, have

[[Page 39967]]

determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(D), this cultural item 
also has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Native American group or culture itself, rather than 
property owned by an individual. Officials of the U.S. Department of 
the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law 
Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that 
can be reasonably traced between this sacred object/object of cultural 
patrimony and the Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with this sacred object/object of cultural 
patrimony should contact Special Agent Lucinda D. Schroeder, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, 4901 Paseo Del Norte, Albuquerque, NM 87113, 
telephone (505) 828-3064, before August 4, 2003. Repatriation of this 
sacred object/object of cultural patrimony to the Pueblo of Laguna, New 
Mexico may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, is responsible for 
notifying the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico 
& Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: May 27, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-16803 Filed 7-2-03; 8:45 am]

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