Office of the Secretary
For Release: June 18, 2004
Contact: John Wright
202-208-6416
WASHINGTON--Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced the appointment
of three new members to the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee. The seven-member committee is
charged with monitoring, reviewing, and assisting in implementation of the
NAGPRA.
"The review committee serves a critical role in ensuring the goals of NAGPRA
are carried out," Norton said. "I am pleased with the willingness and
commitment of these new members to take on this important challenge. I look
forward to the recommendations and advice of the full committee on this very
important issue."
The Act requires that federal agencies and museums that receive federal
funds provide information about and, in certain circumstances, repatriate
Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects
of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native
Hawaiian organizations. The law also provides additional protection for
Native American cultural items discovered on federal or tribal lands.
Appointments to the review committee are selected from nominations to the
Secretary of the Interior by Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations
and national museum and scientific organizations. The following new members
are appointed for four-year terms:
Willie Jones, a respected traditional religious leader from the Lummi Nation
in Washington. Mr. Jones has served since 1977, as a member and chairman of
the Lummi Nation Business Council as well as the Tribe's general manager. He
is currently a member of the Lummi Cultural Resource Protection and
Repatriation Committee and the NAGPRA committee of the National Congress of
American Indians.
Dr. Vincas P. Steponaitis, a professor of anthropology and director of the
Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Steponaitis was personally involved in working out key compromises that
enabled passage of NAGPRA. He is a former president of the Society for
American Archaeology and currently serves as an advisor to the society's
repatriation committee.
Dan L. Monroe, executive director and chief executive officer of the Peabody
Essex Museum in Salem, MA. Mr. Monroe also played a central role in
negotiating compromise language included in NAGPRA. He is a former president
of the American Association of Museums and served as a member of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee from 1992 to
1996.
The three new members join Dr. Garrick Bailey, Ms. Vera Metcalf, Mr. Lee
Staples, and Dr. Rosita Worl on the seven-member review committee.
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