#usfws

It's not a done deal yet, but USFWS has greenlit the acquisition of more land for Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Among other things, it would be the nail in the coffin of a proposed mining project that threatens the ecological health of the wetlands nearby.

As I've mentioned previously, habitat loss is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction, and the best thing we can do for other living beings is to preserve and restore their habitat to the best of our ability. Wetlands are a particularly important biome. Not only are they excellent carbon sinks, but they help mitigate the effects of hurricanes and flooding, as well as acting as natural water filters. Plus they host incredible amounts of biodiversity on land, in water, and in the boundaries between.

Obviously the remaining hurdles toward land acquisition need to be successfully surmounted, which is no mean feat in the current state of things. But it's a hopeful sign that the entity in charge of a large amount of our public lands is amenable to adding to the protected areas around the great Okefenokee Swamp. (Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, and Walt Kelly would agree.)

They're raising the non-resident Annual Pass for American public lands, one of our major tourist industries, by over 200%?!

Copied from the USFWS (United States Fish and Wildlife Service) instagram

That’s why I don’t possess any of these birds!

Almost all native birds (exceptions typically include upland game birds and certain waterfowl IF YOU HAVE HUNTING PERMITS etc.) are protected under the migratory bird treaty act (MBTA), and require special permits to salvage/collect or possess. It is federal crime to possess any of them, without such permits. Eagles do require separate specific permits.

While I do have a small personal collection of domestic and non-native captive birds (chickens and a budgie), everything else I post is prepped at a University museum. I also have some mammals but the laws around them are very different so we don’t need to get into that now.

The museum has all the required permits to salvage, collect, prepare, and possess these specimens for education and research. I just work and volunteer there while I’m getting my degree. Some of the preps here were done at a wildlife rehab for their education program when I worked there full time. They also had all the necessary permits.

The Eagles were prepared at a Tribal Eagle Aviary. My museum does have permits for Eagles. However, Eagles are accumulated at the Eagle Repository first before being distributed to museums and tribes, so it takes a long time to get them after requesting.

Tribal Eagle Aviaries have the required permits to salvage and possess Eagle parts for distribution to tribal members for cultural use. This Eagle Aviary also does raptor education and wanted two skins to use for off-site education while there live Eagles are still training for that.

Thank you for your concern! It’s an important reminder that everyone should be aware of the MTBA and which permits they would need to collect or posess any part of a protected native birds including eggs, nests, and feathers.

I do have a note in my blog’s bio and I try to mention it frequently in posts where it’s especially relevant like a few of my Eagle posts and in answering an ask about how to get into museum prep. I do think I should write a better pinned post introduction at some point though, and this is good encouragement :)