NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA
Fresno State is fully committed to the requirements of both the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (CalNAGPRA).
Tribal Relations
Photos courtesy of Sandy Clark, North Fork Rancheria
If you are a Tribe or Tribal affiliate and would like to discuss repatriation, please
contact Sara Lively, NAGPRA/CalNAGPRA Repatriation Coordinator, at slively@mail.fresnostate.edu, or O: 559.278.8425; C: 559.346.7308.
For formal requests, reporting concerns, or appealing a campus determination, please
visit the page linked below.
Requests and Concerns
What is NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA?
NAGPRA requires Federal agencies and institutions that receive Federal funds (including museums, universities, state agencies, and local governments) to repatriate or transfer Native American human remains and other cultural items to the appropriate parties by:
- Consulting with lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations on Native American human remains and other cultural items;
- Protecting and planning for Native American human remains and other cultural items that may be removed from Federal or tribal lands;
- Identifying and reporting all Native American human remains and other cultural items in inventories and summaries of holdings or collections; and
- Giving notice prior to repatriating or transferring human remains and other cultural items.
(Source: National Park Service)
In 2001, the State Legislature passed AB-978, the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001 (Steinberg, 2001), requiring all state agencies and museums that receive state funding and that have possession or control over collections of human remains or cultural items to provide a process for the identification and repatriation of these items to the appropriate tribes. The bill also created a Repatriation Oversight Commission with oversight authority. The intent of the legislation was to cover gaps in the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (Udall, 1990) specific to the State of California.
(Source: Native American Heritage Commission)
What is the university's role?
Fresno State is committed to ensuring respectful, ethical, and timely repatriation of Ancestors, cultural items that include funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to Native American lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations subject to NAGPRA and California NAGPRA (CalNAGPRA) by focusing the University's resources on repatriation of items already cared for at the University.
In addition, Fresno State has suspended the collection of NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA-related materials, effective August 1, 2024, for an indefinite period of time.
The California State University (CSU) is committed to fully implementing the spirit as well as the legal requirements of both the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (CalNAGPRA) which were enacted to acknowledge the fundamental human right of Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians to their ancestral Human Remains and Cultural Items.