These sections, excerpted from the National Park Service Management Policies 2001, are selections based on references in the I

A Compilation of NPS Management Policies

Pertaining to Native Americans

National Park Service Management Policies 2001 is " the basic Service-wide policy document of the National Park Service." Rather than have a separately-stated policy relating to the concerns specific to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, the National Park Service Management Policies address these concerns throughout this one primary policy document. The following sections are excerpted from the National Park Service Management Policies 2001, and were chosen based on the Index. In its printed form, the National Park Service Management Policies 2001 is 137 pages long, with 10 chapters, two appendices, a glossary, and the index. Complete copies of the policies are available in hard copy, in CD, and on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/policy/mp/policies.pdf

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Native Americans— includes American Indians, Alaskan natives, native peoples of the Caribbean, native Hawaiians, and other native Pacific islanders. Definition of Key Terms, Glossary

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Chapter 2: Park System Planning

2.1.3 Public Participation

Public participation in planning and decision- making will ensure that the Park Service fully understands and considers the public’s interests in the parks, which are part of their national heritage, cultural traditions, and community surroundings. The Service will actively seek out and consult with existing and potential visitors, neighbors, people with traditional cultural ties to park lands, scientists and scholars, concessioners, cooperating associations, gateway communities, other partners, and government agencies. The Service will work cooperatively with others to improve the condition of parks; to enhance public service; and to integrate parks into sustainable ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic systems.

(See Public Involvement 2.3.1.6; Consultation 5.2.1)

2.3.1.6 Public Involvement

Members of the public— including existing and potential visitors, park neighbors, people with traditional cultural ties to lands within the park, concessioners, cooperating associations, other partners, scientists and scholars, and other government agencies— will be encouraged to participate during the preparation of a GMP and the associated environmental analysis. Public involvement will meet NEPA and other federal requirements for identifying the scope of issues, for developing the range of alternatives considered in planning, for reviewing the analysis of potential impacts, and for disclosing the rationale for decisions about the park’s future. The Service will use the public involvement process to share information about legal and policy mandates, the planning process, issues, and proposed management directions; learn about the values placed by other people and groups on the same resources and visitor experiences; and build support for implementing the plan among local interests, visitors, Congress, and others at the regional and national level.

While the NPS will encourage public involvement, FACA allows NPS staff to meet or consult with individuals and groups only for the purpose of exchanging views and information, and to solicit individual advice on proposed NPS actions. If consensus advice is sought, an advisory committee must first be chartered pursuant to FACA.

(See Consultation 5.2.1. Also see NPS Guide to the Federal Advisory Committee Act)

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Chapter 4: Natural Resource Management

4.1.4 Partnerships

The Service will pursue opportunities to improve natural resource management within parks and across administrative boundaries by cooperating with public agencies, appropriate Native American representatives, and private landowners. The Service recognizes that cooperation with other land managers can accomplish ecosystem stability and other resource management objectives when the best efforts of a single manager might fail. Therefore, the Service will develop agreements with federal, tribal, state, and local governments and organizations, and private landowners, when appropriate, to coordinate plant, animal, water, and other natural resource management activities in ways that maintain and protect, not compromise, park resources and values. Such cooperation may include park restoration activities, research on park natural resources, and the management of species harvested in parks. Such cooperation also may involve coordinating management activities in two or more separate areas, integrating management practices to reduce conflicts, coordinating research, sharing data and expertise, exchanging native biological resources for species management or ecosystem restoration purposes, establishing native wildlife corridors, and providing essential habitats adjacent to, or across, park boundaries.

In addition, the Service will seek the cooperation of others in minimizing the impacts of influences originating outside parks by controlling noise and artificial lighting, maintaining water quality and quantity, eliminating toxic substances, preserving scenic views, improving air quality, preserving wetlands, protecting threatened or endangered species, eliminating exotic species, managing the use of pesticides, protecting shoreline processes, managing fires, managing boundary influences, and in using other means of preserving and protecting natural resources.

(See External Threats and Opportunities 1.5; Partnerships 1.9; Addressing Threats from External Sources 3.4; Agreements 5.2.2)

4.4.2.1 NPS Actions That Remove Plants and Animals:

Whenever the Service removes plants or animals, manages plant or animal populations to reduce their sizes, or allows others to remove plants or animals for an authorized purpose, the Service will seek to ensure that such removals will not cause unacceptable impacts to native resources, natural processes, or other park resources. Whenever the Service identifies a possible need for reducing the size of a park plant or animal population, the Service will use scientifically valid resource information obtained through consultation with technical experts, literature review, inventory, monitoring, or research to evaluate the identified need for population management, and to document it in the appropriate park management plan.

In planning and implementing plant and animal population management actions, the Service will follow established planning procedures, including provisions for public review and comment. The Service will consult, as appropriate, with other federal land- managing agencies, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, state agencies, tribal governments, and others. Such consultation will address (1) the management of selected animal populations, (2) research involving the taking of animal species of management interest to these agencies, and (3) cooperative studies and plans dealing with the public hunting and fishing of animal populations that occur across park boundaries.

In addition, the Service will manage such removals to prevent them from interfering broadly with:

Natural habitats, natural abundances, and natural distributions of native species and natural processes;
Rare, threatened, and endangered plant or animal species or their critical habitats;
Scientific study, interpretation, environmental education, appreciation of wildlife, or other public benefits;
Opportunities to restore depressed populations of native species; or
Breeding or spawning grounds of native species.

Where the need to reduce animal populations may be due to persistent human/ animal conflicts, the Service will determine whether or not it can eliminate or mitigate the conflicts by modifying or curtailing the conflicting visitor use or other human activities. Where visitor use or other human activities cannot be modified or curtailed, the Service may directly reduce the animal population by using several animal population management techniques, either separately or together. These techniques include relocation, public hunting on lands outside the park, habitat management, predator restoration, reproductive intervention, and destruction of animals by NPS personnel or their authorized agents. Where animal populations are reduced, destroyed animals may be left in natural areas of the park to decompose. Live animals or carcasses may be removed from parks according to the provisions of applicable laws, agreements, and regulations, including the granting of preference to Native Americans.

(See Pest Management 4.4.5. Also see Director’s Order #18: Wildland fire Management; and #60B)

4.4.3 Harvest of Plants and Animals by the Public

Public harvesting of designated species of plants and animals, or their components, may be allowed in park units when:

Hunting, trapping, subsistence use, or other harvesting is specifically authorized by statute or regulation and not subsequently prohibited by regulation;
Harvest of certain plant parts or unoccupied seashells for personal consumption or use is specifically authorized by the superintendent in accordance with 36 CFR 2. 1( c)( 1);
Recreational fishing is not specifically prohibited; or
Commercial fishing is specifically authorized by statute or regulation.

Where harvesting is allowed and subject to NPS control, the Service will allow harvesting only when the monitoring requirement contained in section 4.4.2 and the criteria in section 4.4.2.1, above, have been met, and the Service has determined that the harvesting will not unacceptably impact park resources or natural processes, including the natural distributions, densities, age- class distributions, and behavior of:

Harvested species;
Native species that the harvested species use for any purpose; or
Native species that use the harvested species for any purpose.

The Service will manage harvesting programs, and any associated habitat management programs intended to restore and maintain habitats supporting harvested plant or animal populations, to conform with applicable federal and state regulations and in consultation and cooperation, as appropriate, with individual states or tribal governments.

Habitat manipulation for harvested species may include the restoration of a disturbed area to its natural condition so it can become self- perpetuating, but will not include the artificial manipulation of habitat to increase the numbers of a harvested species above its natural range in population levels.

The Service may encourage the intensive harvesting of exotic species in certain situations when needed to meet park management objectives.

In some situations, the Park Service may stock native or exotic animals for recreational harvesting purposes, but only when such stocking will not impair park natural resources or processes, and:

The stocking is of fish into constructed large reservoirs or other significantly altered large water bodies and the purpose is to provide for recreational fishing; or
Such stocking is in a national recreation area or preserve that has historically been stocked (in these situations, stocking only of the same species may be continued); or
Congressional intent for stocking is expressed in statute or a House or Senate report accompanying a statute.

The Service will not stock waters that are naturally barren of harvested aquatic species.

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Chapter 5: Cultural Resource Management

5.1.3.1 Inventories

The Park Service will (1) maintain and expand the following inventories about cultural resources in units of the national park system, (2) enter information into appropriate related databases, and (3) develop an integrated information system:

Archeological sites inventory for historic and prehistoric archeological resources and the related Archeological Sites Management Information System (ASMIS) database;
Cultural landscapes inventory of historic designed landscapes, historic vernacular landscapes, ethnographic landscapes, and historic sites, and the related Cultural Landscapes Automated Inventory Management System (CLAIMS) database;
Ethnographic Resources Inventory (ERI) of places, including sites, structures, objects, landscapes, and natural resources with traditional cultural meaning and value to associated peoples and other resource users;
List of Classified Structures (LCS), encompassing historic and prehistoric structures; and
National Catalog of Museum Objects, encompassing all cultural objects, archival and manuscript materials, and natural history specimens in NPS collections and the related automated version, the Automated National Catalog System (ANCS+ or its successor).

(See Park Planning Processes 2.3; Confidentiality 5.2.3. Also see Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Identification [48 FR 44720- 723]; Director’s Order #28; Cultural Resource Management Handbook)

5.1.3.2 Evaluation and Categorization

Cultural resources will be professionally evaluated and categorized to assist in management decisions about their treatment and use. Cultural resources will be evaluated for significance using National Register Criteria for Evaluation (36 CFR 60. 4), and those meeting the criteria will be nominated for listing. Museum collections are inappropriate for listing and will not be evaluated using these criteria. Some collections in their original structures can be included as contributing elements to a listed structure. As appropriate, cultural resources will be categorized using other management categories established by the National Park Service and listed in the Cultural Resource Management Handbook. Cultural resource professionals will evaluate cultural resources in consultation with the appropriate state and tribal historic preservation officers. Ethnographically meaningful cultural and natural resources, including traditional cultural properties, will be identified and evaluated in consultation with peoples having traditional associations to park resources. Examples of traditionally associated peoples include Acadians, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. (For editorial convenience, in these Management Policies the term “Native Americans” includes American Indians, Alaskan natives, native peoples of the Caribbean, native Hawaiians, and other native Pacific islanders.) Some ethnographically meaningful resources do not meet National Register Criteria for Evaluation, but will be inventoried in consultation with traditionally associated peoples and considered in management decisions about treatment and use.

(See Consultation 5.2.1. Also see Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Evaluation [48 FR 44723- 726])

5.2 Planning

Effective park stewardship requires informed decision- making about a park’s cultural resources. This is best accomplished through a comprehensive planning process. Effective planning is based on an understanding of what a park’s cultural resources are, and why those resources are significant. To gain this understanding, the Service must obtain baseline data on the nature and types of cultural resources, and their (1) distribution; (2) condition; (3) significance; and (4) local, regional, and national contexts. Cultural resource planning, and the resource evaluation process that is part of it, will include consultation with cultural resource specialists and scholars having relevant expertise; traditionally associated peoples; and other stakeholders. Current scholarship and needs for research are considered in this process, along with the park’s legislative history and other relevant information.

Planning decisions will follow analysis of how proposals might affect the values that make resources significant, and the consideration of alternatives that might avoid or mitigate potential adverse effects. Planning will always seek to avoid harm to cultural resources, and consider the values of traditionally associated groups. To ensure that approaches and alternatives for resource preservation have been identified and considered, planning processes that could affect cultural resources must include cultural resource specialists, traditionally associated peoples, and other stakeholders, and provide them with appropriate notification about opportunities to become involved.

The general management planning process will include goals and strategies for research on, consultation about, and stewardship of cultural resources, and for research on and consultation with traditionally associated and other peoples. Planning for park operations, development, and natural resource management activities will integrate relevant concerns and program needs for identifying, evaluating, monitoring, protecting, preserving, and treating cultural resources.

Superintendents will ensure full consideration of the park’s cultural resources and values in all proposals for operations, development, and natural resource programs, including the management of wilderness areas. When proposed undertakings may adversely affect national historic sites, national battlefields, and other predominantly cultural units of the national park system that were established in recognition of their national historical significance, superintendents will provide opportunities for the same level of review and consideration by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Secretary of the Interior that the Advisory Council’s regulations require for undertakings that may adversely affect national historic landmarks (36 CFR 800. 10).

Each park will prepare and periodically update cultural resource components of the park’s management plans. Resource plans will define and program activities needed to identify, evaluate, manage, monitor, protect, preserve, and treat the park’s cultural resources, as well as provide for their enjoyment and understanding by the public.

(See Decision- making Requirements to Avoid Impairments 1.4.7; Strategic Planning 2.3.2; Implementation Planning 2.3.3. Also see Executive Order 13007; Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Federal Agency Historic Preservation Programs Pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act [63 FR 20496- 508]; Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Preservation Planning [48 FR 44716- 720]; Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties)

5.2.1 Consultation

The National Park Service is committed to the open and meaningful exchange of knowledge and ideas to enhance (1) the public’s understanding of park resources and values, and the policies and plans that affect them; and (2) the Service’s ability to plan and manage the parks by learning from others. Open exchange requires that the Service seek and employ ways to reach out to, and consult with, all those who have an interest in the parks.

Each park superintendent will consult with outside parties having an interest in the park’s cultural resources or in proposed NPS actions that might affect those resources, and provide them with opportunities to learn about, and comment on, those resources and planned actions. Consultation may be formal, as when it is required pursuant to NAGPRA or Section 106 of the NHPA, or it may be informal when there is not a specific statutory requirement. Consultation will be initiated, as appropriate, with tribal, state, and local governments; state and tribal historic preservation officers; the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; other interested federal agencies; traditionally associated peoples; present- day park neighbors; and other interested groups.

Consultations on proposed Park Service actions will take place as soon as practical, and in an appropriate forum that ensures, to the maximum extent possible, effective communication and the identification of mutually acceptable alternatives. The Service will establish and maintain continuing relationships with outside parties to facilitate future collaboration, formal consultations, and the ongoing informal exchange of views and information on cultural resource matters.

Since national parks embody resources and values of interest to a national audience, efforts to reach out and consult must be national in scope. But the Service will be especially mindful of consulting with traditionally associated peoples— those whose cultural systems or ways of life have an association with park resources and values that pre- dates establishment of the park. Traditionally associated peoples may include park neighbors, traditional residents, and former residents who remain attached to the park area despite having relocated. Examples of traditionally associated peoples include American Indians in the contiguous 48 states, Alaska Natives, African Americans at Jean Lafitte, Asian Americans at Manzanar, and Hispanic Americans at Tumacocori.

In particular, it is essential to consult traditionally associated peoples about:

Proposed research on, and stewardship of, cultural and natural resources with ethnographic meaning for the groups;
Development of park planning and interpretive documents that may affect resources traditionally associated with the groups;
Proposed research that entails collaborative study of the groups;
Identification, treatment, use, and determination of affiliation of objects subject to NAGPRA;
Repatriation of Native American cultural items or human remains based on requests by affiliated groups in accordance with NAGPRA;
Planned excavations and proposed responses to inadvertent discoveries of cultural resources that may be culturally affiliated with the groups;
Other proposed NPS actions that may affect the treatment and use of, and access to, cultural and natural resources with known or potential cultural meaning for the groups; and
Designation of National Register, national historic landmark, and world heritage sites.

Consultation with federally recognized American Indian tribes will be on a government- to- government basis. The Service will notify appropriate tribal authorities (such as tribal historic preservation officers) about proposed actions when first conceived, and by subsequently consulting their appointed representatives whenever proposed actions may affect tribal interests, practices, and traditional resources (such as places of religious value).

When engaging in the consultation process, group meetings may be held only for the purpose of exchanging views and information, and to solicit individual advice on proposed NPS actions. NPS may not hold meetings to obtain consensus advice from a group unless the group is chartered pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). FACA does not apply to inter- governmental meetings held exclusively between NPS officials and elected officers of tribal governments (or their designated employees with authority to act on their behalf) acting in their official capacities, when the meetings relate to intergovernmental responsibilities or administration.

(See Ethnographic Resources 5.3.5.3. Also see ARPA; NAGPRA; NEPA; NHPA [16 USC 470f]; 36 CFR Part 800; 40 CFR Parts 1500- 1508; 41 CFR Part 101;, 43 CFR Parts 7 and 10; Executive Memorandum on Government- toGovernment Relations with Native American Tribal Governments; Executive Order 13007; Executive Order 13175; 512 Department of the Interior Manual [DM] 2; Director’s Order #71: Relationships with Indian Tribes; NPS Guide to the Federal Advisory Committee Act)

5.2.3 Confidentiality

Sensitive or confidential information is sometimes acquired during consultations and during other research, planning, and stewardship activities. Under certain circumstances, and to the extent permitted by law, information about the specific location, character, nature, ownership, or acquisition of cultural resources on park lands will be withheld from public disclosure. If a question arises about withholding information, and disclosure could result in a significant invasion of privacy or a risk of harm to a cultural resource, the Park Service will consult the provisions of ARPA (16 USC 470hh); the National Parks Omnibus Management Act (16 USC 5937); and NHPA (16 USC 470w- 3) before making a decision. Under some conditions, the Service may be required by law to disclose confidential information acquired during consultations, public meetings, and other research, planning, and stewardship activities, or in association with the acquisition of resources, including museum collections. Before these activities occur, NPS staff and authorized researchers will make every effort to inform affected parties that, while the information they provide will not be shared voluntarily, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

To the extent permitted by law, the Service will withhold from public disclosure (1) information provided by individuals who wish the information to remain confidential, and (2) the identities of individuals who wish to remain anonymous and who are protected from release by exemption under FOIA. In each instance, the Service will document its decision to disseminate or withhold sensitive or confidential information from public disclosure.

More detailed guidance on sensitive and confidential information can be found in Director’s Order #66: The Freedom of Information Act and Protected Information; and the Museum Handbook, Part III.

(See Managing Information 1.7. Also see 43 CFR Part 2; 43 CFR 7.18; Privacy Act)

5.3.4 Stewardship of Human Remains and Burials

Marked and unmarked prehistoric and historic burial areas and graves will be identified, evaluated, and protected. Every effort will be made to avoid impacting burial areas and graves when planning park development and managing park operations. Such burial areas and graves will not knowingly be disturbed or archeologically investigated unless threatened with destruction.

The Service will consult with American Indian tribes, other Native American groups, and other individuals and groups linked by demonstrable ties of kinship or culture to potentially identifiable human remains when such remains may be disturbed or are inadvertently encountered on park lands. Re- interment at the same park may be permitted, and may include remains that may have been removed from lands now within the park.

Native American human remains and photographs of such remains will not be exhibited. Drawings, renderings, or casts of such remains may be exhibited with the consent of culturally affiliated Indian tribes and native Hawaiian organizations. The exhibit of non- Native American human remains, or photographs, drawings, renderings, or casts of such remains, is allowed in consultation with traditionally associated peoples. The Service may allow access to, and study, publication, and destructive analysis of, human remains, but must consult with traditionally associated peoples and consider their opinions and concerns before making decisions on appropriate actions. In addition, such use of human remains will occur only with an approved research proposal that describes why the information cannot be obtained through other sources or analysis, and why the research is important to the field of study and the general public.

(See Cultural Resources 6.3.8; Consultation 7.5.5; Cemeteries and Burials 8.6.10. Also see ARPA; NAGPRA; 36 CFR Part 79; 43 CFR Part 10)

5.3.5.3 Ethnographic Resources

Park ethnographic resources are the cultural and natural features of a park that are of traditional significance to traditionally associated peoples. These peoples are the contemporary park neighbors and ethnic or occupational communities that have been associated with a park for two or more generations (40 years), and whose interests in the park’s resources began prior to the park’s establishment. Living peoples of many cultural backgrounds— American Indians, Inuit (Eskimos), Native Hawaiians, African Americans, Hispanics, Chinese Americans, Euro- Americans, and farmers, ranchers, and fishermen— may have a traditional association with a particular park.

Traditionally associated peoples generally differ as a group from other park visitors in that they typically assign significance to ethnographic resources— places closely linked with their own sense of purpose, existence as a community, and development as ethnically distinctive peoples. These places may be in urban or rural parks, and may support ceremonial activities or represent birthplaces of significant individuals, group origin sites, migration routes, or harvesting or collecting places. While these places have historic attributes that are of great importance to the group, they may not necessarily have a direct association with the reason the park was established, or be appropriate as a topic of general public interest. Some ethnographic resources might also be traditional cultural properties. A traditional cultural property is one that is eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places because of its association with cultural practices or beliefs of a living community that are (1) rooted in that community’s history, and (2) important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community.

The Service’s primary interest in these places stems from its responsibilities under

The NPS Organic Act— to conserve the natural and historic objects within parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations;
NHPA— to preserve, conserve, and encourage the continuation of the diverse traditional prehistoric, historic, ethnic, and folk cultural traditions that underlie and are a living expression of our American heritage;
AIRFA— to protect and preserve for American Indians access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites;
ARPA— to secure, for the present and future benefit of the American people, the protection of archeological resources and sites which are on public lands; and
NEPA— to preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage; and
Executive Order 13007— to (1) accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by Indian religious practitioners and (2) avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity of such sacred sites.

The Service must therefore be respectful of these ethnographic resources, and carefully consider the effects that NPS actions may have on them. When religious issues are evident, the Service must also consider constraints imposed on federal agency actions by the first and fourteenth amendments to the U. S. Constitution.

The National Park Service will adopt a comprehensive approach that considers parks and traditionally associated and other peoples as interrelated members of an ecosystem. As an aid to appreciating the diverse human heritage and associated resources that characterize the national park system, the Service will identify the present- day peoples whose cultural practices and identities were, and often still are, closely associated with each park’s cultural and natural resources.

ANILCA recognizes the importance of maintaining the Alaska Native culture, and contains several provisions that authorize activities by the NPS that would assist in the cultural preservation of Alaska Native communities. For many rural Alaskans, the land and the way of life are inseparable. The Service will explore opportunities in Alaska to forge a mutually beneficial relationship between Alaska Natives and the NPS. In Alaska and elsewhere, the Service will try to strengthen the ability of traditional and indigenous peoples to perpetuate their culture and to enrich the parks with traditional knowledge and a deeper sense of place.

Ethnographic information will be collected through collaborative research that recognizes the sensitive nature of such information. Cultural anthropologists/ ethnographers will document the meanings that traditionally associated groups assign to traditional natural and cultural resources and the landscapes they form. The park’s ethnography file will include this information, as well as data on the traditional management practices and knowledge systems that affect resource uses, and the short- and long- term effects of use on the resources.

(See Confidentiality 5.2.3. Also see Director’s Order #29: Ethnography Program)

5.3.5.3.1 Resource Access and Use

Consistent with the requirements of the Organic Act, NHPA, AIRFA, ARPA, NEPA, and Executive Order 13007 cited in section 5. 3. 5. 3 above, the Service will strive to allow American Indians and other traditionally associated peoples access to, and use of, ethnographic resources. Continued access to and use of ethnographic resources is often essential to the survival of family, community, or regional cultural systems, including patterns of belief and sociocultural and religious life. However, the Service may not allow access and use if it would violate the criteria listed in section 8.2.

The Service generally supports traditional access and use, and is considering policy and regulatory revisions that will clarify when reasonable accommodations can be made under NPS authorities to allow greater access and use. Park superintendents may reasonably control the times when, and the places where, specific groups may have exclusive access to particular areas of a park.

With regard to consumptive use of park resources, current NPS policy is reflected in regulations published at 36 CFR 2.1. These regulations allow superintendents to designate certain fruits, berries, nuts, or unoccupied seashells which may be gathered by hand for personal use or consumption if it will not adversely affect park wildlife or the reproductive potential of a plant species, or otherwise adversely affect park resources. The regulations do not authorize the taking, use, or possession of fish, wildlife, or plants for ceremonial or religious purposes, except where specifically authorized by Federal statute or treaty rights, or where hunting, trapping, or fishing are otherwise allowed. These regulations are currently under review, and NPS policy is evolving in this area.

Regulations addressing traditional subsistence uses that are authorized in Alaska by ANILCA are published at 36 CFR Part 13. Some park- specific enabling acts (e. g., Big Cypress National Preserve and Kaloka- Honokohau National Historical Park) allow subsistence or other traditional uses of park resources.

(See Native American Use 8.5; Special Park Uses 8.6; Collecting Natural Products 8.8; Consumptive Uses 8.9)

5.3.5.3.2 Sacred Sites

The National Park Service acknowledges that American Indian tribes, including native Alaskans, treat specific places containing certain natural and cultural resources as sacred places having established religious meaning, and as locales of private ceremonial activities. Consistent with Executive Order 13007, the Service will, to the extent practicable, accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by religious practitioners from recognized American Indian and Alaska native tribes, and avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity of such sacred sites.

In consultation with the appropriate groups, the Service will develop a record about such places, and identify any treatments preferred by the groups. This information will alert superintendents and planners to the potential presence of sensitive areas, and will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law. The Service will collaborate with affected groups to prepare mutually agreeable strategies for providing access to ordinarily gated or otherwise- inaccessible locales, and for enhancing the likelihood of privacy during religious ceremonies. Any strategies that are developed must comply with constitutional and other legal requirements. To the extent feasible and allowable by law, accommodations will also be made for access to, and the use of, sacred places when interest is expressed by other traditionally associated peoples, especially native Hawaiians and other Pacific islanders, and by American Indian peoples and others who often have a long- standing connection and identity with a particular park or resource.

Various ethnic groups, local groups with recently developed ties to resources in neighboring parks, and visitors to family and national cemeteries and national memorials also might use park resources for traditional or individual religious ceremonies. Mutually acceptable agreements may be negotiated with known groups to provide access to, and the use of, such places, consistent with constitutional and other legal constraints.

(See Confidentiality 5.2.3; Resource Access and Use 5.3.5.3.1; Native American Use 8.5; First Amendment Activities 8.6.3. Also see Director’s Orders #66: The Freedom of Information Act and Protected Resource Information, and #71B: Sacred Sites; NHPA [16 USC 470w- 3]; Executive Order 13007; 512 DM 3)

5.3.5.3.3 Research

The Park Service will maintain a program of professional cultural anthropological/ ethnographic research, designed to provide NPS managers with information about relationships between park resources and associated peoples. Research will be undertaken in cooperation with associated peoples in an interdisciplinary manner whenever reasonable, especially in studies of natural resource use and ethnographic landscapes. Research findings will be used to inform planning, cultural and natural resource management decision- making, and interpretation, as well as to help managers meet responsibilities to associated peoples and other stakeholders in the outcomes of NPS decisions. Information required for an ethnographic resource inventory will be drawn from ethnographic research reports to the fullest extent possible.

Collaborative research dealing with recent or contemporary cultural systems and the resources of park- associated peoples will involve the groups in the design and implementation of the research and the review of research findings to the fullest possible extent. The Service will provide individuals or groups involved with, or directly affected by, the research with copies or summaries of the reports, as appropriate.

(See Park Planning Processes 2.3; Studies and Collections 4.2; Consultation 7.5.5; Native American Use 8.5. Also see Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes)

5.3.5.5 Museum Collections

The Service will collect, protect, preserve, provide access to, and use objects, specimens, and archival and manuscript collections (henceforth referred to collectively as “collections,” or individually as “items”) in the disciplines of archeology, ethnography, history, biology, geology, and paleontology, to aid understanding among park visitors, and to advance knowledge in the humanities and sciences. As appropriate, the Service will consult with culturally affiliated or traditionally associated peoples before treating or reproducing items in NPS collections that are subject to NAGPRA.

(Also see Museum Handbook)

5.3.5.5.4 Acquisition, Management, and Disposition

Collections and related documentation essential to achieving the purposes and objectives of parks will be acquired and maintained in accordance with approved scope of collection statements for each park. When museum objects, specimens, or archival documents become available and fall within a park’s approved scope of collection statement, every reasonable effort will be made to acquire them, if they can be managed and made accessible according to Service standards.

Archeological objects systematically collected within a park, and natural history specimens systematically collected within a park for exhibit or permanent retention, will be managed as part of the park’s museum collection. The management and care of museum collections will be addressed at all appropriate levels of planning. Requisite levels of care will be established through the interdisciplinary efforts of qualified professionals.

Museum collections will be acquired and disposed of in conformance with legal authorizations and current NPS procedures. The National Park Service will acquire only collections having legal and ethical pedigrees. Each park will maintain complete and current accession records to establish the basis for legal custody of the collections in its possession, including intellectual property rights when acquired. Each park will prepare museum catalog records to record basic property management data and other documentary information about the park’s museum collection. Collections will be inventoried in accordance with current procedures. Archeological, cultural landscape, ethnographic, historic and prehistoric structure, historic furnishings, natural resource, and other projects that generate collections for parks will provide for cataloging and initial preservation of those collections in the project budget.

The Service may cooperate with qualified entities in the management, use, and exhibition of museum collections, and may loan items to, or borrow items from, such entities for approved purposes. The Service may de- accession items using means authorized in the Museum Act and NAGPRA.

Interested persons will be permitted to inspect and study NPS museum collections and records in accordance with standards for the preservation and use of collections, and subject to laws and policies regarding the confidentiality of resource data. At cost, copies of documents may be provided.

(See Natural Resource Collections 4.2.3; Confidentiality 5.2.3; Fire Detection, Suppression, and Post- fire Rehabilitation and Protection 5.3.1.2; Environmental Monitoring and Control 5.3.1.4; Consultation 7.5.5; Special Park Uses 8.6; Museum Collections Management Facilities 9.4.2. Also see 16 USC 18f; 43 USC 1460; 36 CFR Part 79; 43 CFR Part 10; and Museum Handbook)

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Chapter 6: Wilderness Preservation and Management

6.3.8 Cultural Resources

Cultural resources that have been included within wilderness will be protected and maintained according to the pertinent laws and policies governing cultural resources, using management methods that are consistent with the preservation of wilderness character and values. These laws include the Antiquities Act and the Historic Sites, Buildings and Antiquities Act, as well as subsequent historic preservation legislation, including NHPA, ARPA, and NAGPRA. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) reaffirms the first Amendment rights of Native Americans to access national park lands for the exercise of their traditional religious practices. The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation projects provide direction for protection and maintenance. Cemeteries or commemorative features, such as plaques or memorials, that have been included in wilderness may be retained (including approved access to these sites), but no new cemeteries or additions to existing cemeteries may be made unless specifically authorized by federal statute, existing reservations, or retained rights. Native American human remains that were removed from wilderness areas and are subject to NAGPRA repatriation may be re- interned at, or near, the site from which they were removed. Native American religious areas and other ethnographic and cultural resources will be inventoried and protected. Native Americans will be permitted access within wilderness for sacred or religious purposes consistent with the intent of AIRFA, the Wilderness Act, and other applicable authorities provided by federal statutes and Executive orders.

(See Chapter 5: Cultural Resource Management)

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Chapter 7: Interpretation and Education

7.5.5 Consultation

The National Park Service will present factual and balanced presentations of the many American cultures, heritages, and histories. Consultation with diverse constituencies is essential to the development of effective and meaningful interpretive and educational programs, because it (1) ensures appropriate content and accuracy, and (2) identifies multiple points of view and potentially sensitive issues. When appropriate, state and local agencies involved in heritage tourism and history (such as state historic preservation officers) should be included in consultations to foster coordination and partnerships. Acknowledging multiple points of view does not require interpretive and educational programs to provide equal time, or to disregard the weight of scientific or historical evidence.

The Service will actively consult traditionally associated peoples and other cultural and community groups in the planning, development, presentation, and operation of park interpretive programs and media relating to their cultures and histories. Cooperative programs will be developed with tribal governments and cultural groups to help the NPS present accurate perspectives on their cultures. Ethnographic or cultural anthropological data and concepts will also be used in interpretive programs, as appropriate. The Service will not display Native American human remains or photographs of those remains. Drawings, renderings, or casts of such remains will not be displayed without the consent of culturally affiliated Indian tribes and native Hawaiian organizations. The Service may exhibit non- Native American remains, photographs, drawings, renderings, or casts thereof, in consultation with traditionally associated peoples. The Service will consult with culturally affiliated or traditionally associated peoples to determine the religious status of any object whose sacred nature is suspected but not confirmed. These consultations will occur before such an object is exhibited or any action is taken that may have an adverse effect on its religious qualities.

(See Evaluation and Categorization 5.1.3.2; Stewardship of Human Remains and Burials 5.3.4; Ethnographic Resources 5.3.5.3; Museum Collections 5.3.5.5)

7.5.6 Cultural Demonstrators

Cultural demonstrators can provide unique insights into their cultures. In order to facilitate their successful interaction with the public, parks may provide cultural demonstrators with training and direction. Cultural demonstrators (in parks outside the National Capital Region) who are not NPS employees may be permitted to sell self- made handcraft items to park visitors, keeping the proceeds for themselves, where such handcrafts are related to the park’s interpretive themes. This is allowed under 16 USC 1a- 2( g), which authorizes the sale of products produced in the conduct of living exhibits, interpretive demonstrations, or park programs. When this practice is permitted, all materials used in creating such items must be the private property of the demonstrator, collected from outside the park. The superintendent may permit this practice through a cooperative agreement, special use permit, concession contract, or other legal contract.

Titles 8 and 13 of ANILCA regulate the taking of fish, wildlife, and other natural resources for subsistence and other purposes in the Alaska parks.

(See Special Events 8.6.2; Collecting Natural Products 8.8; Merchandise 10.2.4.4. Also see 36 CFR 5.3; 60 FR 17639)

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Chapter 8: Use of the Parks

8.2.6.1 Recreation Fees

Visitors who use federal facilities and services for recreation may be required to pay a greater share of the cost of providing those opportunities than the population as a whole. Under the guidelines and criteria established by law and regulation, the Service will collect recreation fees of the appropriate type for its parks, facilities, and programs. No fees will be collected in circumstances in which the costs of collection would exceed revenue, or where prohibited by law or regulation. Fees charged for recreational activities will be collected only in accordance with the applicable authority, and recreation fee revenues will be managed according to law and policy. Fee rates will be reasonable and equitable, and consistent with criteria and procedures contained in law and NPS guidance documents. Those who lawfully enter or use a park for activities not related to recreation will not be charged an entrance fee, recreation use fee, or special recreation permit fee. Examples of non- recreation exemptions include persons entering parks for

(See Fees 8.6.1.2; first Amendment Activities 8.6.3. Also see 36 CFR 71.13)

8.5 Native American Use

The National Park Service will develop and implement its programs in a manner that reflects knowledge of and respect for the cultures of Native American tribes or groups with demonstrated ancestral ties to particular resources in parks. Evidence of such ties will be established through systematic archeological or ethnographic studies, including ethnographic oral history and ethnohistory studies, or a combination of these sources. For purposes of these policies, the term “Native American” includes American Indians, Alaskan natives, native peoples of the Caribbean, native Hawaiians, and other native Pacific islanders. The term will be applicable to federally and state- recognized tribes and to those Native Americans who are defined by themselves and known to others as members of a named cultural unit that has historically shared a set of linguistic, kinship, political, or other distinguishing cultural features.

The Service will regularly and actively consult with traditionally associated Native American individuals or groups regarding planning, management, and operational decisions that affect subsistence activities, sacred materials or places, or other ethnographic resources with which they are historically associated. Information about the outcome of these consultations will be made available to those consulted.

In developing its plans and carrying out its programs, the Service will ensure the following:

Park Service general regulations governing access to and use of natural and cultural resources in parks will be applied in an informed and balanced manner that is consistent with park purposes, does not unreasonably interfere with Native American use of traditional areas or sacred resources, and does not violate the criteria listed in section 8. 2 for use of the parks.
Superintendents will establish and maintain consulting relationships with potentially affected Native American tribes or groups.
Management decisions will reflect knowledge about and understanding of potentially affected Native American cultures and people, gained through research and consultations with the potentially affected groups.

AIRFA (42 USC 1996) states that “henceforth it shall be the policy of the United States to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right to freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indians, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.” The National Park Service recognizes that site- specific worship is vital to Native American religious practices. As a matter of policy, and in keeping with the spirit of the law, the Service will be as unrestrictive as possible in permitting Native American tribes access to park areas to perform traditional religious, ceremonial, or other customary activities at places that have been used historically for such purposes, provided the criteria listed in section 8. 2 for use of the parks are not violated. In allowing religious access by other entities, including nonrecognized Indian groups, the NPS will consider requests individually, being mindful to not take actions which will either advance or inhibit religion. The Service will not direct visitor attention to the performance of religious observances unless the Native American group so wishes.

With regard to consumptive use of park resources, current NPS policy is reflected in regulations published at 36 CFR 2. 1. These regulations allow superintendents to designate certain fruits, berries, nuts, or unoccupied seashells which may be gathered by hand for personal use or consumption if it will not adversely affect park wildlife or the reproductive potential of a plant species, or otherwise adversely affect park resources. The regulations do not authorize the taking, use, or possession of fish, wildlife, or plants for ceremonial or religious purposes, except where specifically authorized by Federal statute or treaty rights, or where hunting, trapping, or fishing are otherwise allowed. These regulations are under review, and NPS policy is evolving in this area.

The Service will protect sacred resources to the extent practicable and in a manner consistent with the goals of the traditionally associated Native American tribe or group, when authorized under NHPA. The location and character of sacred sites will be withheld from public disclosure, if disclosure will cause significant invasion of privacy, risk harm to the historic resource, or impede the use of a traditional religious site by practitioners.

As with other non- recreational users, members of Native American tribes or groups may enter parks for traditional non- recreational activities without paying an entrance fee.

The ceremonial use of peyote will be limited to members of the Native American Church during religious ceremonies, in accordance with regulations of the Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (“ Special Exempt Persons, Native American Church,” 21 CFR 1307. 31).

(See Consultation 5.2.1; Ethnographic Resources 5.3.5.3; first Amendment Activities 8.6.3; Consumptive Uses 8.9. Also see Executive Order 13007; Director’s Orders #71A: Relationships with Indian Tribes, and #71B: Indian Sacred Sites)

8.8 Collecting Natural Products

The collection of natural products for personal use or consumption is governed by NPS general regulations contained in 36 CFR 2. 1. A superintendent may designate certain fruits, berries, nuts, or unoccupied seashells that can be gathered by hand for personal use or consumption upon a written determination by the superintendent that such an activity will not adversely affect park wildlife or the reproductive potential of a plant species or otherwise adversely affect park resources. In some cases, peer- reviewed scientific information may be needed to support the determination. The collection of minerals or rocks for personal use will be allowed only when specifically authorized by federal law or treaty rights.

While campfires are a traditional element of camping and the park experience, the gathering of firewood will be prohibited, except where subsistence use is authorized by federal law, or in specific areas designated by a superintendent in which dead and down wood may be collected for campfires or in small quantities for other uses within the park. Natural resource products that accumulate as a result of site clearing for development, hazard tree removal, vista clearing, or other management actions will be recycled through the ecosystem when practicable. When recycling is not practicable, the products may be disposed of by other means. Disposal may be accomplished by contract, if the result of the work done under contract and the value are calculated in the contract cost, or by sale at fair market value in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Wood that accumulates as a result of the management actions described above may also be used for park purposes, such as heating public buildings or offices, or for interpretive campfire programs.

(See Consumptive Uses 8.9, Natural and Cultural Studies, Research, and Collection Activities 8.10. Also see Director’s Order #18: Wildland Fire Management)

8.9 Consumptive Uses

Consumptive uses of park resources may be allowed only when they are:

Specifically authorized by federal law or treaty rights (such as hunting, trapping, or mining in specifically identified parks);
Specifically authorized pursuant to other existing rights (such as a right retained by a donor of the land on which the use would occur);
Grazing activities authorized in accordance with section 8. 6. 8. 1; or
Traditional visitor activities, such as fishing or berry picking, that are authorized in accordance with NPS general regulations.

As a matter of policy, the Service general supports the limited and controlled consumption of natural resources for traditional religious and ceremonial purposes, and is moving toward a goal of greater access and accommodation. As a general matter, a superintendent may not allow consumptive use of park resources by any particular group to the exclusion of others.

Current NPS policy is reflected in regulations published at 36 CFR Part 13. The general regulations at 36 CFR 2. 1 allow superintendents to designate certain fruits, berries, nuts, or unoccupied seashells which may be gathered by hand for personal use or consumption if it will not adversely affect park wildlife or the reproductive potential of a plant species, or other wise adversely affect park resources. The regulations do not authorize the taking , use, or possession of fish, wildlife, or plants for ceremonial or religious purposes, except where specifically authorized by Federal statute or treaty rights, or where hunting, trapping, or fishing are otherwise allowed.

The 36 CFR Part 13 regulations address the consumptive use of park resources for subsistence purposes in Alaska, where it is allowed in the 10 parks and “expanded areas” established by ANILCA. Some park- specific enabling acts (e. g., Big Cypress National Preserve and Kaloka- Honokohau National Historical Park) also allow subsistence or other traditional uses of park resources.

(See Park Management 1.4; Harvest of Plants and Animals by the Public 4.4.3; General 8.1, Native American Use 8.5. Also see 36 CFR Part 13, Subpart B)

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Chapter 10: Commercial Visitor Services

10.2.4.5 Merchandise

The National Park Service will approve the nature, type, and quality of merchandise to be offered by concessioners. Although there is no Service- wide list of specific preferred merchandise, priority will be given to those sale items that interpret, and foster awareness and understanding of, the park and its resources. Merchandise should have interpretive labeling, or include other information to indicate how the merchandise is relevant to the park’s interpretive theme( s).

Each park with concession activities will have a gift shop mission statement, based on the park’s concession service plan or GMP. Concessioners will develop and implement a merchandise plan based on the park’s gift- shop mission statement. The merchandise plan must be satisfactory to the Director, and should ensure that merchandise sold or provided reflects the significance of the park, and promotes the conservation of the park’s geology; wildlife; plantlife; archeology; local Native American culture; local ethnic culture; historical significance; and other park resources and values. The plan should also integrate pollution prevention and waste- reduction objectives and strategies for merchandise.

Merchandise must be available at a range of prices. Theme-related merchandise manufactured or handcrafted in the United States— particularly in a park’s geographic vicinity— will be emphasized. The revenue derived from the sale of United States Indian, Alaska native, native Samoan, and native Hawaiian handcrafts is exempt from any franchise fee payments. Foreign merchandise is not encouraged, but will not be prohibited.

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This compilation has been prepared by Emogene Bevitt, American Indian Liaison Office, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW Org. 2560, Washington, DC 20240, tel. 202/354-6963 or 6965; fax 202/371-6609 [EAB1] . January 2003

Complete copies of the policies are available in hard copy, in CD, and on the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/policy