The Native American Policy. of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service articulates the general principles that guide our government-to-government relationships with Indian Tribes in the conservation of fish and wildlife resources. The conservation values and partnerships that we share with Indian Tribes help the Service to accomplish its mission and fulfill our Federal and Departmental trust responsibilities to Native Americans.
For questions about this policy or how we work with our Tribal partners, contact the Regional Native American Liaison for your area of the country.
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Left to Right: Robert Mesta, FWS; Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, Regional Director, SW Region, FWS;
Megan Mosby, Exec. Dir., Liberty Wildlife; Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior; Michele Gallagher, FWS;
Joe Early, FWS; and Rowan Gould, Deputy Director, FWS, Washington, D.C. Photo credit:Tami Heilmann/DOI
Non-Eagle Feather Repository Receives National Award
September 21, 2011 – Washington D.C.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the 2011 Partners in Conservation Awards to 17 organizations who have achieved exemplary conservation results with community engagement and local partnerships. This year’s awards recognize more than 500 individuals from all 50 states and include representatives from Tribes, local communities and states, other Federal agencies, business and industry, nonprofit institutions, and private landowners. The awards also include 150 outstanding Interior employees who are helping to advance important conservation initiatives are also recognized this year.
This year’s award winners include Megan Mosby, Executive Director of the Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation. Liberty Wildlife is one of two repositories the Southwest Region is working with as part of a two-year pilot Non-Eagle Feather Repository, which provides feathers and bird parts to federally recognized tribal members, for cultural and religious purposes. Liberty, founded in 1981, is a non-profit wildlife rehabilitation, education and conservation organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The formation of the pilot program was a joint endeavor between the Regional Director, Migratory Bird Permit Office, Office of Law Enforcement, and Native American Liaison.
The DOI Partners in Conservation Award. Photo credit: Liberty Wildlife
In June of 2010, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed with Liberty and in October feather distribution began. Going on a year anniversary, Liberty has met all the MOA requirements and has successfully distributed hundreds of feathers and birds parts to tribal members across the county. A majority of the feathers collected are naturally molted from various raptors that Liberty cares for at their rehabilitation center. Other feathers, parts, and whole carcasses are also sent to Liberty by various Service permit holders. A majority of requests are for whole tails, and from large raptors like the red-tailed hawk. Most of the time a complete tail is unavailable so staff and volunteers for Liberty painstakingly sort feathers and unless a whole complete tail is available, individual tail feathers are further sorted as to condition, length, color/age pattern and a tail (naturally comprised of 12 feathers) is created for applicants requesting a tail.
Liberty does not receive any funding from the Service. All operating costs, including shipping and handling are the responsibility of Liberty. However, Service staff work closely with both repositories for the acquisition of feathers and birds and feathers, and to ensure permit and compliance issues related to the MOA are met.
From left to right: LaDonna Harris,
Bill Voelker, Director of SIA,
Benjamin Tuggle, Southwest Regional Director USFWS,
Joe Early, NAL USFWS and
Troy - Co-Director of SIA, pose for a picture after the signing of the Non-Eagle Feather Repository MOA. Photo credit: L. Whittle, USFWS.
Establishment of the First Non-Eagle Feather Repository
June 2010
(Albuquerque, New Mexico) Today, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service), in cooperation with the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, established a two-year pilot, non-eagle feather repository to provide Native Americans with a permitted source to obtain non-eagle feathers from federally regulated migratory birds for religious and cultural use. For decades Native Americans have used various natural resources and wildlife for subsistence, as well as for cultural and religious purposes. Feathers remain one of the most sought after items by tribal cultural and religious practitioners. To assist in legal acquisition of federally regulated migratory bird feathers, the Service established the National Eagle Repository in Denver, Colorado. This repository serves as a legal source of eagles and eagle feathers for qualified, federally enrolled, tribal members for use in religious ceremonies. At one time, this repository also distributed other protected and regulated migratory birds, like hawks and falcons. However distribution of these non-eagle species was discontinued in the late 1990s. Since then, the Service has looked for ways to help meet tribal needs for non-eagle feathers. In cooperation with the Comanche Nation, the Service is issuing a permit to establish the first Native American-managed non-eagle feather repository. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and a permit were signed today enabling the Comanche Nation Ethno-Ornithological Initiative (SIA) based in Cyril, Okla., to receive and distribute regulated migratory bird feathers, deceased birds and parts from zoos, falconers, rehabilitators and other permitted sources to federally enrolled tribal members across the country.
Dr. Tuggle and Megan Mosby, Executive Director, Liberty Wildlife, at the Native American Fish & Wildlife Society Southwest Region Conference, Phoenix, AZ. Photo credit: Joe early, USFWS.
Two-year Pilot Program Provides Opportunity to Establish Non-Eagle Feather Repositories.
On June 21, 2010, the Comanche Nation Ethno-Ornithological Initiative (SIA) based in Cyril, Okla., became the first permitted and tribally managed non-eagle feather repository in the country. Now in cooperation with Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona, a second repository is permitted. Under the agreement established through a two-year pilot, these entities will work together and with the Service to assist Native Americans throughout the country to lawfully acquire migratory birds, their parts and feathers for religious and cultural purposes.
June 2,, 2009 — A journey inside the facility and an intimate look at the Eagles and other Raptors of the world currently living at Sia. Also included in the video is an honoring ceremony for the Region 2 USFWS Director Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, who has been an active supporter of Sia's endeavors. Credit: SIA. (Time: 9 min.)
Photo By: David Mikesic, Zoologist, Navajo Natural Heritage Program
Service Participates with Navajo Nation to Teach Cultural Heritage and Stewardship Ethics Through Modern Day Hunt
Keeping with a new found tradition, the Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife held its fifth annual tribal youth deer hunt September 25-27, 2009. For a second year the Southwest Region’s Native American Liaison, Joe Early, volunteered as a hunt mentor, teaming up with a great young man named Julian Francisco, from Prewitt, New Mexico. Thirteen year old Julian was already an experienced marksman with a BB gun and .22 caliber rifle, but had never before hunted deer, let alone pursued anything larger then a rabbit.
The hunt itself is designed to provide an opportunity for Navajo youth between the ages of 12 to 16 who have never hunted and have no other opportunities to hunt. Youth are chosen based on essays they must submit that explain why they want to hunt, why they do not have the opportunity to hunt, and why they are interested in hunting, fishing or other outdoor recreational activities. Once selected, all youth must attend and participate in a mandatory tribal 20-hour hunter education course, which is certified by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and two firearm range practice days. An application form and announcement are posted every year notifying members the Navajo Nation of this unique opportunity.
This year,eighteen youth qualified and were selected to participate as novice hunters in one of the tribe’s deer management units, located in the Carrizo Mountain range of northeast Arizona.
Hunters arrived at the camp on the afternoon of the September 25, upon which they helped to set up camp and listened to instructions from the Department’s Director, Gloria Tom. They were then provided with free hunting gear ranging from a full set of clothing, boots, sleeping bag, backpack, knives, first-aid kit, flashlight, binoculars and a variety of other equipment. All of the gear was donated by various Navajo Nation, State and private entities, including The Outdoor Channel’s Bone Collector television show which filmed during the hunt, as well interviewed tribal personnel and hunters.
As a hunt mentor Joe helped explain the environmental rationale and relationship between proper wildlife management; the biology of the deer and their habitat; and principles of ethical hunting and responsible natural resources stewardship, both from a modern day standpoint as well as from his cultural background as a Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico tribal member. Julian shared with Joe about what he had learned from a traditional Navajo upbringing and with their combined knowledge Julian and Joe were successful in harvesting one of the largest deer of the hunt. After just over an hour of hunting on the first day, the two were able to stalk several deer and, with some straight shooting at a 130 yards, Julian harvested his first deer, a fine 5X5 (including eye guards) mule deer buck! (Joe and Julian are modest fellows, but his colleagues in the Service have no compunction about mentioning the fact that theirs is ostensibly the biggest buck harvested in this year’s hunt.)
Photo Credit: Joe Early, FWS
In all, every hunter harvested a deer, making it the fourth year in a row where there has been a 100% success rate in the Navajo Nation youth hunt. After harvesting the deer, proper field-dressing, skinning and care for the meat was taught to each hunter. All meat was transported by the tribe to a meat processor, upon which it was processed, cut, wrapped and provided free of charge for each hunter’s family.
Being raised on a reservation Joe was fortunate enough to have family to teach him how to hunt, as well as help him to see both the cultural and the religious significance behind the hunt.
“I have personally witnessed today’s tribal youth facing tough challenges and in some cases slowly losing their cultural heritage, whether it be through their language, cultural doings, or the connection to the earth and the outdoors,” note Early. “However, the Navajo Nation has taken a proactive approach in connecting tribal youth to the outdoors by combining tribal knowledge, proper natural resources stewardship and wildlife management education, and modern day hunting opportunities. It’s a great program.”
Joe’s new friend and “brother of the hunt,” Julian agrees that his tribe is doing an outstanding job in not only managing its wildlife, but also in providing a unique opportunity for tribal youth.
Julian is the youngest son of Bennie and Lenora Francisco, and Joe was honored that they allowed him to share his knowledge and experience with their fine young son.
For more information on the youth hunt, please contact Navajo Nation Fish and Wildlife Department at (928) 871-6451, or visit their website at http://www.nndfw.org. The Outdoor Channel, Bone Collector show is scheduled to air the youth hunt in early part of 2010.
Read the memo that offers a challenge and opportunity to the Service to work more closely with Tribes.
This is a great opportunity for AEA to help support the programs and regions in this effort.
One of our first opportunities will be in offering Tribal trust training to Service leadership.
Wildlife Crossing Structures
When they redid Hwy 93 south of Flathead Lake the tribe pushed for building game crossing structures. Some were thinking critters wouldn't use them, but these remote cameras clearly show that they do. Looks like the tribe fought for this and it is proving successful at protecting wildlife, let alone deterring collisions with motorists. This is a real success for the Tribes in Montana. Quite the zoo out there.
