Guest article by Crystal C’Bearing

Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Officer

In recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day earlier this week, we wanted to visit the important role that THPOs (Tribal Historic Preservation Offices) play in the world of Historic Preservation. So, we reached out to our friend Crystal C’Bearing, who is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at the Northern Arapaho THPO. We also recommend following the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office on facebook to keep up to date on the important historic preservation and cultural conservation work they do.

Since time immemorial the Northern Arapaho were always organized in their form of traditional government and would fall under traditional tribal law which would be the mechanism for self-governance. The Northern Arapaho traditional government utilizes tribal resolutions as the standing orders for the tribe to be self–sustaining as a sovereign governing nation.

Through a Northern Arapaho Business Council tribal resolution, the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office Director and Deputy Director are the tribe’s authority for overseeing any Tribal, Federal, and are equal to State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO).

THPO authority is very important in the protection and preservation of cultural resources. What Federal Agencies deem as “Tribal Consultation” is Government-to-Government, and through the establishment of authority with the National Park Services (NPS) stipulations for grant funding and Federal Undertakings through the NPS’ National Programmatic Agreement (PA). THPO has the authority to carry out Government-to-Government Tribal Consultation, apply for grants, and organize to meet the program goals.

The mission of the Northern Arapaho THPO is, “To Protect, Preserve, Conserve, Promote & Manage Traditional Cultural Resources, Traditional Ecological Knowledge Areas in Ancestral Migratory Territories for the Northern Arapaho.” THPO falls under Natural Resources and Cultural Preservation for the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The Northern Arapaho THPO is charged with the conservation and protection of all resources for current and future generations. THPO keeps a Government-to-Government relationship in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The four different departments within the Tribal Historic Preservation Office are the Archaeology, NAGPRA, GIS and Cultural Resource departments. The Archaeological
department consists of the Tribal Archaeologist and temporary seasonal Archaeological technicians/Traditional Cultural Specialists. They survey, document and monitor federal
undertakings and other projects. The NAGPRA department includes the NAGPRA/Collections Manager and an Administrative Assistant who document and consult with institutions for repatriations, inadvertent discoveries. Collections management is the main duties of the NAGPRA department. The Cultural Resource Specialist is responsible for interpretation, ethnographies, educational and cultural visits to schools and other programs wanting to collaborate with THPO. The GIS Coordinator works closely with each department in terms of data collection, mapping, GPS and storage of data for projects.