Tribal Historic Preservation Office
THPO
Address: 16429 Beartown Road, Baraga MI 49908
Phone: (906) 353-6623 (x4272) or (x4278)
Language
Phone: (906) 353-6623 (x4178)
In February of 2005, The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Council assumed the responsibilities of the SHPO. By doing so the Tribal Historic Preservation Office was established. The Tribal Historic Preservation Office’s mission is to protect and preserve all aspects of Ojibwa (Aniishinabe), also known as Chippewa, culture including the aspects of development and protecting cultural sites and artifacts, as well as intellectual property rights for culturally specific language and art.
Section 106
Section 106 refers to the federal review process designed to ensure the historic properties are considered during federal project planning and execution. The advisory council on historic preservation, an independent federal agency, administers the review process with assistance from the state historic preservation office.
By law, the Michigan SHPO and the KBIC THPO have a maximum of 30 days for most types of reviews. Currently the staff of the KBIC THPO on averages 14-21 days of response time.
For consultation fee amounts please contact our office at KBIC THPO, 16429 Beartown Road, Baraga, MI 49908 (906)353-6623. Or by email: Chris Chosa, Officer/Director at cchosa@kbic-nsn.gov or Juliet Goyen THPO Technician at jgoyen@kbic-nsn.gov.
The establishment of the National Historic Preservation Act provides sites like this, protection from being harmed.
NAGPRA
NAGPRA is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. It is a federal Law that was passed in 1990 to provide a process for museums and federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items (human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony) to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. To learn more about the National NAGPRA program please click on the following link: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/
The KBIC THPO NAGPRA program works to preserve and protect Ojibwa (Aniishinabe) archeological sites, heritage, culture, language, and religion. The area of department’s interest covers many states within the Continental U.S. and a vast majority of land within the Canadian provinces surrounding the Great Lakes
Language Revitalization
The language Revitalization Program was developed to combat the eradication of the Ojibwa Language. It has only been recently that the Language Revitalization Program was placed amongst the Tribal Historic Preservation Office. The KBIC THPO Language Program offers an Immersion Class offered through Bay Mills Community College and a Master/Apprentice Program. Questions regarding the Language Program should be addressed to Gary Loonsfoot Jr., Language Coordinator 16429 Beartown Road, Baraga, MI 49908, by phone at (906) 353-4178 or by email at gloonsfoot@kbic-nsn.gov.
Archives
The KBIC Archives houses elder interviews, books, articles, ethnographical materials, etc. Documents that are deemed sensitive are withheld from public display, in order to protect culturally significant resources.
Currently, access to the KBIC Archives is restricted. Persons who wish to access the archives must do so in the form of a written request, stating the reasons for requiring access, and what information is going to be gathered and utilized as. Requests can be sent to Chris Chosa at cchosa@kbic-nsn.gov.