Eagle Management

National Environmental Policy Act

Issuance of eagle take permits under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act may require environmental consequences analyses pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Service prepared a programmatic review of the impacts from issuance of incidental take of eagles and take of eagle nests. The analysis of various alternative management options and rule revisions, including the final rule revisions, are documented in the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Eagle Rule Revision, and our final decision on proceeding with the final rule is documented in the Record of Decision.

We may also conduct environmental analyses for issuance of individual eagle permits. The Service makes the documents pertaining to these NEPA analyses available to the public in our NEPA Documents for Eagle Permits library:

Eagle Incidental Take Permitting

The Service may authorize the "take" of eagles where the take is compatible with the preservation of bald and golden eagles, and the take is associated with, but not the purpose, of an activity and cannot be practicably avoided. This type of take is considered "incidental take." The regulation authorizing incidental eagle take permits for bald and golden eagles can be found in the Code of the Federal Register 50 CFR 22.80.

"Take means pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy, molest, or disturb" (50 CFR 22.6). Disturb means "to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, (1) injury to an eagle, (2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or (3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior" (50 CFR 22.6)

On September 30th, 2022, the Service published in the Federal Register a proposed rule and draft environmental assessment with approaches to improve eagle incidental take permitting.  The Service’s intent for both bald and golden eagles is to ensure that the regulations for these permits are consistent with the goal of maintaining stable or increasing breeding populations.

Info on Eagle Act Regulation Revisions

Working with Wind Facilities

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service encourages the development of an Eagle Conservation Plan when incidental eagle take may occur. Our Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance: Module 1 - Land-Based Wind Energy provides specific in-depth guidance for conserving bald and golden eagles in the course of siting, construction and operation of wind energy facilities, and also indicates much of the information the Service will need when processing an application from a wind facility for incidental eagle take.

The updated Collision Risk Model Priors for Estimating Eagle Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities; was published in the Federal Register on May 6, 2021 and formally announced our adoption of updated species-specific eagle exposure and collision probabilities used to generate fatality estimates for consideration in issuing eagle incidental take permits to wind-energy facilities under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. This action will improve our ability to carry out our statutory responsibility to ensure conservation of bald eagles and golden eagles when issuing those permits.

Compensating for Unavoidable Take

Compensatory mitigation may be required to offset eagle take authorized under an incidental eagle take permit. If mitigation is needed to offset bald eagle take, the ratio for mitigation is 1:1. As there is evidence that golden eagle populations may be declining, for golden eagles, there is a regulatory requirement for a mitigation ratio of 1.2:1.

Resource Equivalency Analysis

We developed Resource Equivalency Analysis tools to calculate the compensatory mitigation needed to offset permitted eagle take.

Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Compensatory Mitigation Programs

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has authorized two programs, the Bald Eagle And Golden Eagle Electrocution Prevention In-lieu Fee Program and the Eagle Protection and Offset Program, to sell compensatory mitigation credits for bald and golden eagle take.  These two third-party mitigation banking options are specific to eagles and authorized by USFWS to offset incidental eagle take.  (Note: USFWS authorization of these programs does not constitute blanket endorsement of either company, or a parent company, operating these programs)

Bald Eagle And Golden Eagle Electrocution Prevention In-lieu Fee Program

Eagle Protection and Offset Program

Eagle Nest Protections

Along with protecting eagles, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act also protects eagle nests. Eagle nests are protected at all times, not just when the nests are in use by eagles. This means eagle nests can never be removed or destroyed, no matter what time of year it is, without a permit.

More information on eagle nest removal permits:

Bald Eagles vs. Golden Eagles

Understanding eagle characteristics is key to properly identifying them, which is very important in determining the need for a permit and what kind of permit may be needed. Learn more by selecting an eagle type.

Bald Eagle Fact Sheet

Golden Eagle Fact Sheet

Do I Need an Eagle Take Permit?

Eagle Permit Types Available:

Eagle Feathers and Parts for Native Americans

Find information on permits for Native Americans to obtain and possess eagle feathers and parts for religious and cultural purposes from our National Eagle Repository.