DENVER – In the wake of criticism over tribal consultation policies, the Fish and Wildlife Service said it has asked tribes to become involved in carrying out new permit regulations concerning bald and golden eagles.
Because some tribal nations felt government-to-government consultation regarding changes in eagle rules was inadequate, FWS officials hope this round of review and implementation will be more acceptable.
At issue are new rules that allow non-Indians to apply for permits that would allow the incidental take – primarily the disturbing, but in some cases, the unavoidable killing – of eagles under unavoidable circumstances that are, nevertheless, secondary to the need to maintain eagle populations at a survival level, according to the FWS.
The new regulations would not change the way in which Natives obtain eagles and eagle parts from the National Eagle Repository, nor would they change the way, rarely implemented, that tribes obtain take permits for religious purposes, the FWS said. Those purposes would be given priority except for emergencies involving human safety.
Native religious use of eagles and other types of take would, however, need to be compatible with conservation under FWS-determined threshold limits.
“Take for any reason depends on the number of eagles available – we want to ensure that we always have eagles,” said Kim Greenwood, FWS Region 6 tribal liaison.
The new take permit regulations “triggered quite a bit of internal controversy” and tribes, the general public and the FWS need to “get all on the same page,” said Pat Durham, tribal liaison at the FWS national office.
Initially, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona objected to what were felt to be shortcomings in consultation over eagle regulations and a related resolution was passed by the National Congress of American Indians, he said.
Primarily, tribes needed time “to read the complicated new rule,” he said, and while general public concerns were addressed, “the tribes wanted closer consultation.”
The NCAI passed a resolution calling on the FWS to fulfill government-to-government consultation obligations concerning activities affecting bald and golden eagles and their habitat.
The Department of the Interior and its agencies should abide by the spirit and intent of federal law on regulations and policies that affect bald and golden eagle populations, the NCAI said in 2008.
“We’ve had quite a few calls – there’s a lot of interest out there,” said Greenwood of the FWS region that covers an eight-state area and some 30 tribal nations.
Other FWS regions also sent letters to tribes indicating an interest in further consultation on the implementation of the new rules, which provide for incidental take that occurs when, for example, eagles are electrocuted because power lines could not be retrofitted to be raptor-proof.
Limited take permits for landowners and others were available under the Endangered Species Act, but the bald eagle was taken off the ESA list in 2007 (except for a desert bald eagle population) and placed under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which lacked such permit authority. The new permit authority would apply to both bald and golden eagles.
The new program “would allow the service to issue similar permits under the Eagle Act, which prohibits any ‘take’ of bald and golden eagles – including killing, injuring, disturbing or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs – without a permit, even though they have been removed from the list of threatened and endangered species,” according to the FWS.
“Eagles may cause damage or danger to aircraft, or they can be a problem underlying the construction of new apartments, say, when birds nest in an area, when building can’t go forward – not so much the birds themselves, but where they are and are nesting,” said Jim Dubovsky, chief of Region 6’s migratory bird program. “Again, under the Endangered Species Act, there was allowance.”
The number of permits issued annually would be based on the eagle population of a given area and would only authorize mortality that results despite all efforts to avoid killing eagles.
Under the program, an electric company would, for example, establish a mortality baseline, design and erect power lines so they do not electrocute eagles, monitor the system, use eagle-friendly practices, and if requirements were fulfilled the company would not be subject to prosecution if take occurred despite the conservation efforts.
The current consultation is to seek “what other type of information from the tribes might help to implement the permitting process,” Dubovsky said.
The final environmental assessment – which will conclude an analysis of the permit rules’ impact – is expected to be issued in March and will go through the regional solicitor and Office of Management and Budget before reaching the secretary of the interior for signoff.
