Spi [yay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Page 9
October 2, 2013
Aroun4 the Region
Eagle aviary proposed for feathers
P E N D L E T O N (AP) -
Tribal m em bers w ho need
riagle feathers for religious
and ceremonial purposes of
ten face a long wait.
“The current process for
trib al m em bers to secure
eagle feathers is to apply to
the N ational Eagle Reposi
tory,” said C arl Scheeler,
Wildlife Program M anager
for the Confederated Tribes
o f the Umatilla Indian Res
ervation. “The waiting time
can be up to a year.”
, A proposed eagle aviary in
Pendleton could dramatically
decrease the wait.
The facility, hinging on a
$200,000 grant from the U.S.
F ish & W ildlife S ervice,
would house up to 12 non-
releasable birds. The CTUIR
will learn the fate o f its grant
proposal sometime after the
president signs the D epart
ment o f the Interior budget
in the early mbnths o f 2014.
The aviary, the first in the
Pacific Northwest, would be
near Pendleton’s McKay Res
ervoir at Blue Mountain Wild
life. The organization rehabili
tates sick or injured wildlife,
mainly birds o f prey such as
eagles, owls and hawks.
‘W e take in more raptors
th an anyw here else in the
Pacific Northwest,” said Lynn
T om pkins, the directo r at
Blue Mountain Wildlife.
T om pkins and Scheeler
started championing the idea
o f a tribal eagle aviary years
ago as a speedier way to pro
cure eagle feathers. Though
Blue Mountain takes in about
a dozen eagles every year,
T om pkins can n o t provide
molted feathers or other eagle
parts to local tribe members.
All feathers and bodies o f
dead eagles go to the federal
repository in Denver, Colo.,
even if they were found on
local tribal land.
‘W e don’t currently have-
the option o f securing local
birds for use by the local com
munity,” Scheeler said. “They
must go to the national reposi
tory for the next person on
the list.”
The CTUIR plan includes
a 30-by-50-foot flight pen
and a rodent-rearing facility
at Blue M ountain Wildlife
and a feather repository lo
cated at the Tamastslikt Cul
tural Institute in Pendleton.
The tribal repository Would
in clu d e a “ su p e r-c o o l”
freezer to kill parasites before
storage and distribution o f
feathers.
‘W e need a place to safely
curate and store the feathers,”
Scheeler said. “The secure fa
cilities at Tam astslikt were
an obvious choice.”
Tompkins and Scheeler said
only non-releasable eagles,
birds that would die in the wild,
would populate the tribal avi
ary. Sadly, they said, there is no
shortage o f those.
“It seems there is no end to
the number o f injured birds
that come into Blue Mountain
Wildlife,” Scheeler said.
T om pkins sto o d in the
facility’s current eagle flight
pen Monday with about 10
injured eagles flapping and
perching around her. The pen
is smaller by half than the
proposed one and has a net
ting ceiling, instead o f wood
and beam. The iconic birds
come here for a variety o f
reasons, she said. Some fly
into wind turbines or power
lines. Others collide with cars,
are shot or ingest lead.
The grant would provide
funding for public education
about eagles, addressing such
topics as how lead affects the
birds. The high num ber o f
lead poisoned birds saddens
Tompkins and Scheeler. The
birds often feed on gut piles
or carcasses left by hunters
w ho use lead shot o r lead
bullets.
“They are leaving animals
that are toxic,” Tompkins said.
“They are putting o ut p oi
son.”
The education piece would
also address how the eagle
feather is intertw ined w ith
tribal culture arid faith. I f a
feather falls from the busde
o r h ead p ie ce o f a n ativ e
dancer, it can bring a pow
wow to sudden halt, trigger
ing a special retrieval cer
emony.
T eara F arro w F errnan,
manager o f CTUIR’s Cultural
R esources P ro tectio n P ro
gram, said the feathers appear
in dance regalia, ceremonies
and in homes and cars as pro
tection. In wedding ceremo
nies, a woman receives two
feathers just before the couple
is officially joined as husband
and wife.
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