Proposed eagle aviary promotes sovereignty

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Since coming from the coast of New Hampshire to be curator for the Navajo Nation Zoo, Matthew Holdgate has been immersed in sovereignty issues. The zoo’s proposed eagle aviary is another form of sovereignty, he says.

While possession of eagle feathers that don’t come through the federal government is considered illegal — even possession of feathers that have been handed down generation to generation — with an aviary, the Navajo Nation could dispense them as it pleases.

“You don’t need to tell them what you’re doing with them, you don’t need to tell them who you’re giving them out to,” he said.

The only thing standing in the way of distributing eagle feathers for cultural use is $442,000 in funding for supplies, contractual services and construction, and Holdgate is actively searching for that, he told the Resources Committee last week in an update requested by the committee.

“We have a request at the Capital Improvement Office.

They have not reviewed it and they don’t have a deadline on when they might have an answer. I put the aviary in my budget to the executive branch but I didn’t receive any funding from that source either. So we have a denial, a pending request, and my only other option that I see is the legislative branch.” He asked the committee’s help in locating funding.

The zoo is taking a lead role in the proposed aviary because it is now submitting feathers shed by the eagles on display at the zoo to the federal repository.

“It turns out we’re not lawfully required to do so. If we wanted to we could just bury them or get rid of them, but we submit them to the repository so that all the tribes in the nation have an opportunity to request feathers from the federal government,” he said.

A return on the request can take years, however, and then, according to Resources Committee member Harry Clark, “sometimes they’re damaged and you don’t know what damaged them — power lines, lightning, trains or what have you. But there are still a lot of Navajos who use these eagle feathers and bones, and they’re very powerful.”

The Zuni Tribe was able to secure external funds because it was the first to establish an aviary for cultural use. The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma followed with a rehabilitation element, taking in injured birds, treating them, and then attempting to release them.

“The Navajo Nation might be the third tribe, and if so, one last avenue that hasn’t been explored is using it as an educational center. We want to be able to house golden eagles as well as bald eagles. We’re going to have interpretive displays that talk about why the tribe has developed this program and why feathers are culturally significant,” Holdgate said.

The Nation can adapt the existing aviary design used by the other tribes to suit its need, but Navajo probably will require more space for eagles because, as the largest tribe, the demand is expected to be greater, he said.

Holdgate provided the committee with a breakdown of how the $442,000 would be spent: $32,000 for supplies, $60,000 for architecture/design, and $350,000 for construction, infrastructure, and a security fence around the building with an alarm system because there have been break-ins at the zoo in the past by people trying to steal the feathers, he said.

Having its own aviary not only would further Navajo sovereignty, it also would help the feds, according to Holdgate. “Once you have the aviary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is glad to see it. They’re overburdened at their repository with requests, so tribes, especially the size of ours, can take some of the burden off them, saving the feds money and time and helping them with a faster turnaround.”

Members of the Navajo Nation can still request feathers from the federal repository while at the same time applying to the tribe for additional feathers.

Clark commended the project. “It’s a very good initiative and we wholeheartedly support it,” he said, but added that recent information from the Controller’s Office indicated there won’t be funds available for supplemental requests until June or July after the Minimum Fund Balance has been replenished. “But it won’t hurt to get documentation and get it in,” he said.