FLC NAGPRA Committee members and members of the Zuni Cultural Resources Advisory Team (ZCRAT) during the September 6, 2018, NAGPRA Consultation. l to r: Shelby Tisdale, Presley Haskie (ZCRAT), Kathy Fine-Dare, Octavius Seowtewa (ZCRAT), Eldred Quam (ZCRAT), Blythe Morrison, Chuck Riggs, and Liz Quinn MacMillan
The purpose of the Fort Lewis College NAGPRA Committee is to carry out directives from the College President based in part on advice received from Tribal Nations and Pueblos and from the National NAGPRA Office; to advise the President based on Committee concerns and discussions; to address concerns from campus and community; and to provide guidance to the ongoing FLC NAGPRA compliance process. The FLC NAGPRA Committee is comprised of FLC faculty and staff, community members, and at least one FLC Native American student. Per the FLC NAGPRA Policy, at least three committee members are to be of Native American ancestry. The Committee meets at least three times a year and reports to the President of the College, who selects Committee members, ideally on an annual basis.
*Ex officio members
Under the leadership of President Tom Stritikus, NAGPRA Committee goals for the 2018-2019 academic year included:
1. The Committee met four times: January 12, March 16, and November 9 of 2018, and March 27 of 2019. It was agreed during the March 27 meeting that the Committee would not meet again until early in the Fall semester of 2019.
2. President Tom Stritikus approved the addition of two new Committee members, one to represent the student body (Kristin Kayaani, Diné) and the other to represent the FLC Center of Southwest Studies (Curator Liz Quinn MacMillan).
3. Over several months spanning 2018 and 2019 the Committee assisted with hosting representatives of fourteen Tribes and Pueblos to conduct consultation activities supported by the federal NAGPRA grant received by FLC. These Native nations include The Hopi Tribe, The Jicarilla Apache Nation, The Pueblo of Acoma, The Pueblo of Laguna, The Navajo Nation, The Pueblo of San Felipe, The Pueblo of San Ildefonso, the Pueblo of Santa Clara, The Southern Ute Indian Tribe, The Pueblo of Tesuque, The Ute Indian Tribe, The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation.
4. Following a NAGPRA Committee request, NAGPRA Committee members and NAGPRA grant co-PIs Kathy Fine-Dare and Shelby Tisdale met on November 27, 2018, with representatives of the La Plata County Historical Society/Animas Museum regarding a split collections issue (FLC is in possession of funerary objects split from ancestral remains in the Animas Museum).
5. The Committee approved a request to file a Notice of Inventory Completion for three sets of culturally affiliated ancestral remains. The Notice was submitted to the National Park Service on March 1, 2019 and published on June 13, 2019.
6. The Committee supported undergoing the Form B Disposition Process so that 40 ancestral individuals classified as culturally unidentified may be transferred jointly to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. NAGPRA Liaison and NAGPRA Committee Chair Dr. Kathy Fine-Dare requested letters of support from all 49 State of Colorado consulting Tribes and Pueblos for the Form B Disposition Process. It is anticipated that the package will be submitted late in 2019 with approval and repatriation targeted for 2020.
The National Park Service grant supports FLC’s work in documenting existing collections and consultation with potentially culturally affiliated Native American Tribal nations to determine the affiliation of NAGPRA items in its collections.
NAGPRA Committee members 2017-2018, l to r: Chuck Riggs, Kay Holmes, Terry Knight, Sr., Kathy Fine-Dare, and Jeanne Brako