Notice2025-19963
Notice of Inventory Completion: Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, Vernal, UT
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 17, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum (UFHNHSPM) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 219 (Monday, November 17, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 219 (Monday, November 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51398-51399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19963]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6568; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041192; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Utah Field House of Natural
History State Park Museum, Vernal, UT
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Utah Field House of Natural History
State Park Museum (UFHNHSPM) has completed an inventory of human
remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there
is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated
funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in
this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects in this notice may occur on or after December 17, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects in this notice to John Foster, Museum
Curator, Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, 496
East Main Street, Vernal, UT 84078, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#eb818483858d84989f8e99ab9e9f8a83c58c849d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="254f4a4d4b434a56514057655051444d0b424a53">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
UFHNHSPM and additional information on the determinations in this
notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in its
inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Based on the information available human remains representing at
least 26 individuals have been reasonably identified. The three
associated funerary objects are two mats and one cloak associated with
the cranial remains of one individual.
On indeterminate dates beginning circa 1950s numerous NAGPRA
objects were recovered from private property throughout Northeastern
Utah. These objects were subsequently donated to the UFHNHSPM as part
of individual or family donations. The Utah Field House Museum retained
the human remains as culturally unidentifiable until January 2024 when
they were reclassified as culturally identifiable based on the
information available and the results of consultation, cultural
affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical location or
acquisition history of the human remains described in this notice. No
known provenience is available for the human remains; however, it is
reasonably presumed that the individuals originated from locations
based on the acquisition history. No known individual was identified.
The associated funerary objects are identified in the UFHNHSPM
accession and catalog records.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical
location or acquisition history of the human remains and associated
funerary objects described in this notice.
Determinations
The UFHNHSPM has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of at least 26 individuals of Native American
ancestry.
<bullet> The three objects described in this notice are reasonably
believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite
or ceremony.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains and
associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Ute Indian
Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the
authorized representative identified in this notice under ADDRESSES.
Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations 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 the requestor is a lineal
descendant or an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
[[Page 51399]]
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after December
17, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the
UFHNHSPM must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to
repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not
competing requests. The UFHNHSPM is responsible for sending a copy of
this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations
identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: September 18, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-19963 Filed 11-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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