The City of Traverse City has completed an inventory of human remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human remains and any present-day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a written request to the City of Traverse City. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human remains to the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

On an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed from an unknown location. In 1935, Traverse City Park Commissioner Con Foster sought to create a park that would include a historical museum. Foster traveled throughout the Midwest in search of Native American items to display in the museum. Over the course of 70 years the collection grew to include over 3,000 Native American items. In 2002, the collection was moved to the Grand Traverse Heritage Center. After the management contract between the City of Traverse City and the Grand Traverse Heritage Center was not renewed in 2014, the Con Foster Museum collection was placed in storage, where it remains today. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are present. According to museum records, a rifle (catalog number 1939.0001.0029b) was found with the human remains. Currently, the rifle cannot be located.

In museum records, the human remains are identified as being from the “western plains,” which can be interpreted to mean the Great Plains. The Great Plains encompasses all of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas; eastern portions of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico; western portions of Oklahoma; and northwestern portions of Texas. In addition, the focus of the Con Foster Museum collection was on Native American items. Together, this information makes it more likely than not that the human remains described in this notice are Native American. Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.16, the Secretary of the Interior may make a recommendation for a transfer of control of culturally unidentifiable human remains. In September 2017, the City of Traverse City requested that the Secretary, through the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee, recommend the proposed transfer of control of the culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains in this notice to the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan. The Review Committee, acting pursuant to its responsibility under 25 U.S.C. 3006(c)(5), considered the request at its October 2018 meeting, and recommended to the Secretary that the proposed transfer of control proceed.