Notice2026-06815
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, CA
Primary source
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Published
April 9, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park (CHIS) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribe in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 68 (Thursday, April 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Page 17992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06815]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N7055; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0042552; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, CA
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 U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park (CHIS) intends to
repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of
unassociated funerary objects that have a cultural affiliation with the
Indian Tribe in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after May 11, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Ethan McKinly, Superintendent, Channel
Islands National Park, 1901 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura, CA 93001, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c6a3b2aea7a899aba5adafa8aaa3bf86a8b6b5e8a1a9b0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0c6978646d6253616f6765626069754c627c7f226b637a">[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
Superintendent, CHIS and additional information on the determinations
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in
the summary or related records.
Abstract of Information Available
A total of 40 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
The 40 unassociated funerary objects are two stone scrapers, two stone
bowls, one stone biface, one stone pestle, 18 shell ornaments, one bone
bead, eight shell beads, one bone tool, one stone plummet, one digging
stick weight, one lot of black seeds, one shell fragment, and two
fishhook blanks. In the 1870's Stephen Bowers and William George
Willoughby were actively collecting and excavating burials on the
Channel Islands located off the coast of California. Items from Bowers
and Willoughby's collections were initially housed at the Smithsonian
Institution in the late 1870's and later transferred to Wesleyan
University's Natural History Museum. Cultural affiliation was
determined based on the following types of information:
anthropological, archeological, geographic, historical, oral tradition,
and Native American traditional knowledge. The presence of any
potentially hazardous substances on these cultural items is unknown.
Determinations
CHIS has determined that:
<bullet> The 40 unassociated funerary objects described above are
reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near
individual human remains, and are connected, either at the time of
death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony and are believed,
by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a
specific burial site of an individual or individuals with cultural
affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified
in this notice under ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be
submitted by 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 a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization.
Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor
may occur on or after May 11, 2026. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, CHIS must determine the most appropriate
requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the
cultural items are considered a single request and not competing
requests. CHIS is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the
Indian Tribes identified in this notice and to any other consulting
parties.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: April 1, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-06815 Filed 4-8-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on April 9, 2026.
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