National Park Service News Release
RELEASE Date – July 7, 2005
Elaine Sevy (202)-208-6843
Sherry Hutt (202)-354-1479
WASHINGTON—Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced new measures to
strengthen and improve compliance with provisions of the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Norton signed Secretarial Order
3261 which assigns the the responsibility for ensuring that museums comply
with the repatriation provisions under the Act to the Assistant Secretary of
the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
“This is an important issue and I take this responsibility seriously,”
Norton said. “This action will ensure that our commitment to the law is
fulfilled and our responsibility under the Act is carried out to its fullest
extent.”
The Assistant Secretary will be responsible for ensuring that federal
agencies and museums comply with the repatriation provisions under the Act.
The Act requires all federal agencies and museums to repatriate Native
American human remains and other cultural items to the appropriate lineal
descendants, Indian tribes, or Native American organizations. The Assistant
Secretary will also have the authority to investigate museums that may not
have complied with the law and assess civil penalties if they found to be
non-compliant.
The Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks will
also be responsible for granting extensions of NAGPRA inventory deadlines;
awarding NAGPRA implementation grants to Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian
organizations and museums; and will work with the Assistant Secretary of
Indian Affairs to promulgate NAGPRA regulations. The National Park Service
will provide staff support and technical assistance.
NAGPRA was congressionally enacted in 1990, to address the rights of lineal
descendants, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to Native
American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of
cultural patrimony with which they are affiliated. The law requires federal
agencies and museums to consult with tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, provide summaries and inventories of their collections, and
upon receipt of a valid claim, repatriate cultural items to the appropriate
parties.