News Release
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
On September 22, 2021, the Ute Indian Tribe (Tribe) of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation Business Committee and the Director of the National Park Service (NPS) fully executed the Ute Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) agreement and it is now in full effect. As a result, the tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office has assumed a formal and legal place in the National Historic Preservation Program, a landmark achievement for the tribe.
The fully executed Tribal Historic Preservation Office agreement authorizes the tribe’s Cultural Rights and Protection Department (CRPD) to exercise certain cultural and historic preservation activities over the Uintah and Ouray Reservation under the National Historic Preservation Act. These preservation activities were previously a legal authority that was exercised by Utah’s Historic Preservation Office.
Effective immediately, the tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office will have Federal authority to assume duties from the State, including:
- Advise and assist Federal and State agencies and local governments in carrying out their historic preservation responsibilities.
- Consult with Federal agencies on Federal decisions that may affect Tribal historic properties.
- Work with the Secretary of the Interior, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and other Federal and State agencies, local governments, organizations, and individuals to ensure that Tribal historic properties are taken into consideration at all levels of planning and development.
- Identify and nominate properties to the National Register of Historic Places and administer applications for listing in the National Register.
- Prepare and implement a historic preservation plan for the tribe.
- Provide public information, education, training, and technical assistance in historic preservation.
- Survey and inventory Tribal historic properties.
About the Ute Indian Tribe
The Ute Indian Tribe resides on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band. The tribe has a membership of more than three thousand individuals, with over half living on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The Ute Indian Tribe operates its own tribal government and oversees approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land which contains significant oil and gas deposits. The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the tribe.
