§7.7. Notification to Indian tribes of possible harm to, or destruction of, sites on public lands having religious or cultural importance. — Inbound Citations

When consent by an Indian tribe to proposed excavation or removal of archaeological resources from Indian lands it owns or over which it has jurisdiction contains all of the information written as prescribed and advised in § 262.5(c)(1), it may be taken to mean that subject to such terms and conditions as the tribe might specify, issuance of a permit for the proposed work will not result in harm to, or destruction of, any site of religious or cultural importance. No further notification is necessary, unless the Area Director has reason to believe that the proposed work might harm or destroy a site of religious or cultural importance to another tribe or Native American group. He or she shall then follow the notification procedures at 43 CFR 7.7. Those procedures must also be followed when proposed work might affect lands of Indian individuals over which there is no tribal jurisdiction or public lands owned or administered by the BIA.

(a) means, for purposes of § 7.7 of this part, a location which has traditionally been considered important by an Indian tribe because of a religious event which happened there; because it contains specific natural products which are of religious or cultural importance; because it is believed to the be dwelling place of, the embodiment of, or a place conducive to communication with spiritual beings; because it contains elements of life-cycle rituals, such as burials and associated materials; or because it has other specific and continuing significance in Indian religion or culture.

(c) Persons carrying out official agency duties under the Federal land manager's direction, associated with the management of archaeological resources, need not follow the permit application procedures of § 7.6. However, the Federal land manager shall insure that provisions of §§ 7.8 and 7.9 have been met by other documented means, and that any official duties which might result in harm to or destruction of any Indian tribal religious or cultural site, as determined by the Federal land manager, have been the subject of consideration under § 7.7.

(c) The Federal land manager shall include in permits issued for archaeological work on Indian lands such terms and conditions as may be requested by the Indian landowner and the Indian tribe having jurisdiction over the lands, and for archaeological work on public lands shall include such terms and conditions as may have been developed pursuant to § 7.7.

(3) Convey to a federally recognized Indian tribe if the material remains were excavated or removed from lands of religious or cultural importance to that tribe and were identified and documented by a Federal land manager under 43 CFR 7.7(b)(1), 36 CFR 296.7(b)(1), 32 CFR 229.7(b)(1), or 18 CFR 1312.7(b)(1).

(6) Indian tribes that consider the land to have religious or cultural importance, if the material remains are from a site on public lands that has religious or cultural importance to Indian tribes under 43 CFR 7.7(b)(1).