Greenville Rancheria Resource Guide
Updates and Information on COVID-19

Cultural Department

The Greenville Rancheria's Cultural Department maintains the strictest confidentiality for all Sacred Sites and Repatriation Ceremonies.

It is the intent of the Cultural Department to preserve, protect, and maintain Tribal Cultures, Languages, Customs, Ancestral and Sacred Sites, and Beliefs.

Within our cultural office we have a limited collection of VHS video tapes, and books for children and adults to view and read. There is also a 16mm-35mm microfilm for viewing the 1928-1933 and the 1950-1955 California Judgment Role that will enable the membership to view historical records.

The Cultural Department conducts field surveys in coordination with Environmental Protection Agency Program to review culturally sensitive areas on proposed timber harvest plans, new construction and road construction. These surveys include:

  • Identifying Native Plant Species
  • Archaeological Surveys
  • Identification and documentation of Native American Sites

The Cultural Department is now starting a native plant garden that will be comprised of plants that were and are used by the local Native Americans in the Plumas county area, in the near future the Greenville Rancheria will be adding a Cultural Garden in our Red Bluff facility. Some plants will be a food source others will be used for Traditional medicine and could be offered as an alternative in modern medicine.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

The Sierra Nevada NAGPRA Coalition (SNNC) (Penutian language) is an organization of tribes that strive for the return of Native American human remains and cultural items. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was enacted to remedy a long history of shameful treatment of Native American human remains and cultural items.

The SNCC recognizes that Tribes are the sole and final authority to identify and determine the deposition of any and all human remains, items of cultural patrimony, and sacred objects.

The Greenville Rancheria was awarded this grant in 2006 to organize a collaborative effort on the part of Tribes and non-federally recognized Native American organizations throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to facilitate training in the fundamentals of NAGPRA and formulate a Regional Strategy aimed at the complete recovery and repatriation of affiliated ancestral remains.

Key Activities include

  • Inter-tribal consultation and documentation regarding the characteristics of unidentified remains or funerary items, including oral interviews of tribal elders
  • Museum Research and Consultation
  • Development/maintenance of a database for cultural items on behalf of the SNNC
  • Development/coordination of a protocol for the respectful repatriation of NAGPRA objects for which Tribal affiliation has been determined

The National Park Service has awarded the Greenville Rancheria a second award for NAGPRA. This award will be used for inventories of museums that is listed for the Tribe.