Navy Base to Repatriate Sacred Native Items from Island Outpost
Published Date: 3/17/2025
Notice
Summary
The Navy at Naval Base Coronado on San Clemente Island plans to return important Native American cultural items, like tools and sacred objects, to the right tribes or descendants starting April 16, 2025. If no one claims them by March 17, 2026, these items will be considered unclaimed. This affects Native American groups connected to the island and ensures respect for their heritage.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Navy to Return Cultural Items Starting April 16, 2025
The U.S. Navy at Naval Base Coronado plans to give back Native American cultural items, including funerary and sacred objects, to eligible tribes or descendants beginning April 16, 2025. The items described include thousands of artifacts in about 380 boxes removed from 130 sites on San Clemente Island during excavations from 1991 through 2015.
Claim Deadline: March 17, 2026
If no written claim is received by March 17, 2026, the cultural items listed will be treated as unclaimed. Disposition may still occur on or after April 16, 2025, but items become officially unclaimed if not claimed by March 17, 2026.
Specific Tribes Have Priority for Return
The notice names tribes that have priority to receive the items: La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians; Pala Band of Mission Indians; Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima Reservation; Pechanga Band of Indians; Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of Rincon Reservation; Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation; and the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians. These listed tribes are given priority for disposition of the cultural items.
Who May Claim and How Claims Are Resolved
Written claims must be sent to the Navy official listed in the notice. Claims may be submitted by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization named in the notice or by others who can show by a preponderance of the evidence that they have priority. If competing claims are received, Naval Base Coronado will determine the appropriate claimant; requests for joint disposition are treated as a single request.
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