# Title 55 — State Historical Society and State Parks

## Chapter 55-03 — Protection of Prehistoric Sites and Deposits

### § 55-03-00.1. Definitions.

1. "Cultural resources" includes prehistoric or historic archaeological sites, burial
mounds, and unregistered graves.
2. "Mitigate adverse effect" includes:
a. The process of making and preserving a record of the existence and scientific,
historical, architectural, engineering, educational, or aesthetic value of a cultural
resource, historic building, structure, or object.
b. The process of restoring, rehabilitating, reconstructing, stabilizing, or preserving,
through some other means, a cultural resource, historic building, structure, or
object.
### § 55-03-01. Permit required to investigate, evaluate, or mitigate adverse effect on

cultural resources, historic buildings, structures, or objects - Application - Fee.
Any person engaged in identifying, evaluating, or mitigating adverse effects on cultural
resources, historic buildings, structures, or objects on any lands in North Dakota, under 36 CFR
800 or any applicable state law, shall obtain an annual permit from the director of the state
historical society. The permit application must be in the form prescribed by the director. Each
application must be accompanied by a filing fee as determined by the director. The director may
waive the fee requirement if the applicant is an instrumentality of the state. Following issuance
of the annual permit, the permittee shall submit to the state historical society payment in the
amount determined by the director with every cultural resources identification, monitoring report,
evaluation, and mitigation report submitted to the director in compliance with the federal and
state statutory and regulatory requirements identified in this section. A permittee submitting a
report on behalf of a nonprofit corporation formed under chapter 10-33 does not have to pay the
fee for filing the report.
### § 55-03-01.1. Permit required to investigate, excavate, or otherwise record cultural

resources on land owned by an instrumentality of the state and to excavate cultural
resources on private land.
Any person engaged in the investigation, excavation, or other recording of cultural
resources on land owned by an instrumentality of the state or in the excavation of cultural
resources on private land for any purposes other than those identified in section 55-03-01 first
shall obtain a permit from the director. A permit may be granted only for the investigation,
excavation, or other recording of cultural resources at the locations described in the application
for permit. Each application must be accompanied by a fee as determined by the director,
unless the director waives the fee.
### § 55-03-02. Contents of permit.

A permit issued pursuant to an application made under section 55-03-01 or 55-03-01.1 must
clearly describe the purpose of the permit and must be in the form prescribed by the director. A
permit may not be granted until the director is satisfied that the applicant is professionally
qualified to conduct that work for which the permit is required. When the cultural resources are
on land owned by an instrumentality of the state, the permit may not be granted until the
applicant has agreed to deliver to the director all of the archaeological or historical materials
found and removed from the land. When the cultural resources are on private land, the permit
may not be granted until the applicant has agreed to deliver to the director all of the human
remains and burial goods, as defined in section 23-06-27, found and removed from the land. A
permit may not be granted until the applicant has agreed to deliver to the director copies of all
records and reports as determined by the director to be pertinent to the work performed.

### § 55-03-03. Period for which permit granted - Revocation.

Each permit issued under section 55-03-01 terminates on December thirty-first of the year
in which it is issued. Any permit issued under section 55-03-01 or 55-03-01.1 may be revoked
by the director at any time if it appears that any identification, evaluation, or mitigation of
adverse effects on cultural resources, historic buildings, structures, or objects performed by the
permittee are being conducted negligently or improperly, or without regard for the careful
preservation and conservation of the artifacts and materials they contain.
### § 55-03-04. Fees deposited in revolving fund - Use.

All fees collected by the director under sections 55-03-01 and 55-03-01.1 must be deposited
in the revolving fund of the state historical society and must be used by the director for making
investigations of permit applicants and for the management and analysis of records and artifacts
submitted to the director under sections 55-03-01, 55-03-01.1, and 55-03-02.
### § 55-03-05. Landowner may explore on his own land.

Repealed by S.L. 1989, ch. 307, § 7.
### § 55-03-06. Archaeological or paleontological materials retained upon sale of land by

state or municipality.
When land is sold, conveyed, transferred, or leased by the state of North Dakota, or by any
department or agency thereof, or by any municipal subdivision thereof, the title to any and all
archaeological or paleontological materials, whether such materials are found upon the surface
or below the surface of such land, must be retained by the state or by the municipal subdivision
thereof, as the case may be.
### § 55-03-07. Violation of chapter - Penalty.

Any person violating any provision of this chapter is guilty of a class A misdemeanor and
shall forfeit to the state all archaeological or historical articles and materials discovered by the
violator. Any such violation must be held to be committed in the county where the exploration or
excavation for archaeological or historical material was undertaken.
