Please take but a few moments to read the following. It is not my intention to step on someone elses' religious beliefs; however, there should be freedom for "all"....... and that includes our wildlife. Once the magnificent bald eagle was viewed as our great American symbol. Though individual religious rights may be important, perhaps it is more important to recognize the rights of others, including non humans, who struggle to make a living on this planet. What will happen when all tribal groups and other special interests demand hunting and following of their traditional rites in the National Parks, the last refuge for our wild species? John Leshy, the Solicitor of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is on the verge of issuing a far-reaching official opinion that could open the national parks and monuments to the Indian "take" of wildlife for ceremonial and religious purposes. That would radically transform the national parks, long-regarded by the people of the United States and the world as wildlife sanctuaries since Congress banned the taking of animals in Yellowstone in 1894. Here are the contours of the nascent opinion: 1. The Solicitor will advise Secretary of the Interior Babbitt that he may cancel the current National Park Service (NPS) regulations that protect park animals (at 36 CFR 2.1(d)) and replace it with a new rule that allows Indian Tribal members to obtain a permit from a park superintendent to take animals in that park. 2. How many parks are involved? Any park where an Indian Tribe can show a relatively direct connection and where the law creating the park contains even the most vague or oblique reference to Indians. That is a large set of parks, virtually all large parks in the West and many in the East. 3. The Solicitor's opinion will emphasize that the Secretary may permit Indians to "take" park wildlife rather than to "hunt" them, attempting to avoid the politically charged perception that the parks are now open to hunting. The latter point is simply a semantic subterfuge. If anything, "taking" of wildlife is an even broader category of activity than "hunting" wildlife. Taking includes pursuit, capture, trapping, AND hunting. In the end, the "taken" wildlife is as dead as "hunted" wildlife. Sparked by the May 1999 incident at Wupatki National Monument when Hopi Indians sought to capture golden eaglets from a nest in that park, the political appointees in the Department of the Interior are seeking to accommodate Indian "taking" of park wildlife because it is religious conduct. No one disputes that Indian "taking" of wildlife (including such take for subsistence and recreational use) is often suffused with religious overtones. The Department believes that because the practice of religion is involved, the NPS must allow this conduct in the national parks. This logic ignores the fundamental principle that religious conduct is not immune to regulation and the burdens indirectly imposed upon it by laws of general applicability. An example of such a general law is the prohibition on the taking of park wildlife. No, the Free Exercise of clause of the First Amendment does not compel the NPS to repeal all general regulations whose indirect effect is to burden religious conduct. Fortunately, the Solicitor's pending advice cannot be implemented overnight (at least, not legally!). Any change in NPS regulations so drastic would require a full-blown environmental impact statement, and a proposed rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act. It is likely that so abrupt a reversal of existing NPS regulations that protect wildlife requires an act of Congress. What can we do? 1. Call Solicitor Leshy at (202) 208-4423 and ask for a copy of the opinion on Indian take of wildlife in the parks. Mr. Leshy's secretary, Mari, has kindly agreed to take emails and print them for Mr. Leshy's review. Please write to mari_thomas@ios.doi.gov 2. Call the Council of Environmental Quality in the White House at (202) 456-6224 and express your concern about this opinion and possible effect. 3. Call Al Gore's office at (202) 456-6224, and tell him that this Opinion, should it come out as it is now written, WILL become a political issue. Don't allow our american symbol and other animals to go up in smoke. We need to protect our wildlife with all our hearts. OR - one day, there may be no wildlife for our children to see as we know it today. On 8/11/00 the article below appeared on the Spokane Net ~ ironically enough it is Washington boasting of an eaglet being born in our capital as a welcome symbol of our nation. Sokane News Article 8/11/00 Capital sees hatching of bald eagle Associated Press - WASHINGTON -- A bald eagle has hatched in Washington, the first time in a half-century that the national symbol is known to have nested in the nation's capital. After receiving a tip from a resident who spotted a pair of eagles flying around with branches and twigs in their beaks, federal wildlife officials spotted them building the nest in January on National Park Service land, the Washington Post reported Thursday. In March, the female eagle was sitting on the nest, and in April a chick hatched. It has been flying on its own since late June. Now, the eaglet and its parents still spend time near the nest, but not in it. Wildlife officials are thrilled because eagles have a reputation for being fussy about where they live. Until recently, scientists had thought eagles would not nest in developed areas. The eaglet, which will not develop the species' distinctive white head feathers for several years, is the first bald eagle known to be hatched in the city since the late 1940s, according to the National Park Service. After that, loss of habitat and widespread use of the pesticide DDT, which weakened eagle eggs so that they were crushed in the nest, caused the population in the lower 48 states to plummet. The bird's numbers began rising after DDT was banned in 1972, and the Clinton administration is close to removing the bald eagle from the endangered species list. Read The Story Site created by KChapman