Notice of Intended Repatriation: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>National Park Service</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[N6491; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041014; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Notice of Intended Repatriation: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Park Service, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after October 6, 2025. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to Luke Swetland, President and CEO, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, email <E T="03">lswetland@sbnature2.org.</E> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Abstract of Information Available</HD> A total of 1,052 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 1,052 unassociated funerary objects consist of shell beads, stone beads, historic glass beads, shell pendants, projectile points, lithic flakes, one fish vertebra, and asphaltum fragments. These items were collected from a previously “pot-hunted” cremation site in the San Joaquin Valley, west of Buttonwillow, California between the 1950s and the 1980s by Thomas F. Bird of Bailey, Colorado, and donated to the Museum in 1990. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Determinations</HD> The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has determined that: • The 1,052 unassociated funerary objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. • There is a reasonable connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California; Table Mountain Rancheria; Tejon Indian Tribe; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California; and the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe of the Benton Paiute Reservation, California. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Requests for Repatriation</HD> Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . 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 October 6, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 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. The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties. <E T="03">Authority:</E> Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9. <SIG> <DATED>Dated: August 26, 2025.</DATED> <NAME>Melanie O'Brien,</NAME> Manager, National NAGPRA Program. </SIG> </SUPLINF> <FRDOC>[FR Doc. 2025-17013 Filed 9-4-25; 8:45 am]</FRDOC> </NOTICE>