Durango Herald file photo Durango Herald file photo On a May day
last year in Santa Fe, the national committee reviewing issues
surrounding the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act received a presentation by a group from
Colorado. A group from Colorado had come to appeal for help
identifying more places on public lands for reburial of Native
American remains. “Today, we are here to express to you a
significant barrier and ask you to be a strong supporter in
partnership with us to make small changes in procedure, policy
and interpretation, so we may utilize state and federal lands
more broadly to provide for reinterment,” Southern Ute Tribal
Council member Pathimi GoodTracks said. “We have hundreds of
relatives waiting, waiting for reburial, and it is distressing
to Native people when our ancestors and relatives are left in
limbo.” Such collaboration between tribes and government
agencies is not new in Colorado and has helped make the state a
model for the implementation of a law that many re