Senior
Project Proposal
Fight
for Feathers: Supporting Both Arizona’s Indigenous People and Indigenous
Wildlife
Chloe
Gilmour
December
8, 2012
- Title of Project:
Fight for
Feathers: Supporting Both Arizona’s Indigenous People and Indigenous Wildlife
- Statement of Purpose:
What
do feathers mean to Arizona’s Native American tribes and do they even still
carry a profound significance today? How do rehabilitation centers balance the
needs of the Native American religious rites and the welfare of the native hawk
and eagle species? How can this strained relationship work more efficiently and
more amicably? I hope to greater understand the history of religious feathers
in Native American culture and their importance. Additionally, I hope to study
the treatment of protected wildlife and Native American rights in similar
conflicting interests in other states in order to find the best compromise for
both parties.
- Background:
I
began volunteering at Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation as an orphan
care volunteer during the summer of 2011. I tended to orphan song birds needs,
performed simple health checks and necessary wildlife paperwork. In the fall of
2012, I took a ten week night course to become a part of the medical staff at
Liberty Wildlife. Now, I treat all incoming wildlife including mammals, water
fowl, raptors and eagles.
I
soon became exposed to the feather repository program, learning that Liberty
Wildlife manages one of only two repositories in the United States. A pioneer
solution in the brewing conflict between religious and conservation laws,
Liberty Wildlife provides one of the only legal ways for Native Americans to
obtain the feathers and bird parts they desire for religious ceremonies and
rites.
Interested
in this unique program, I began to look for some more information regarding the
feelings of Native Americans participating and a quote from one struck me.
“How
would a non-indian feel if they had to get their Bible from a repository?”
asked Northern Arapaho leader Nelson P. White. Clearly, many Native Americans
do not fully support the repository and more research is still necessary to
better understand this complex relationship.
- Prior Research:
The
body of knowledge written on this topic is separated into three main categories.
First, many books have been written on the conservation effort and the need for
a protected status of a variety of Arizonan Native birds. At one point there
were only 417 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles that have the most sought after ceremonial
feathers left in the wild, so deaths due to tribal rites of passage would make
a tremendous impact (Iraola)
Additionally, much has been written on the spiritual meaning behind the
feathers themselves and how theses feathers are so sacred that they must not
fall to the ground much like the American flag (Stewart). Finally, many
articles and opinion pieces discuss the controversial court cases surrounding
feather rights in recent times. For example, many articles have been written on
the recent license given to the Northern Arapaho Tribe to kill two protected
Bald Eagles in Wyoming for religious purposes (Fiegel).
- Significance:
The
two largest Native American reservations in the United States are located in
Arizona. That is over a quarter of the state’s area. If a quarter of our States
people feel that their first amendment rights are being trampled, further
research should be encouraged. New knowledge in this field will help to smooth
the strained relationship between Arizona’s Native American community and
rehabilitation centers like Liberty Wildlife and maybe even find solutions. My
senior project uniquely conveys firsthand accounts and observations from those
directly involved; something that nothing written on this topic has done. If I
successfully find a possible solution to ease the tension between the two
groups, I will not only let the members of the feather repository know but also
voice the opinions I hear to the state department.
- Description:
I
hope to research my project in a three pronged approach. First and foremost, I
plan observe the process from feather request to feather delivery. This will be
done by interning at Liberty Wildlife. Additionally, I would like to interview
the conservationists at Liberty Wildlife and the Arizonan Native Americans who
participate in the program. Finally, the bulk of my research will be library
and internet based. I will have the opportunity to go to The British Library in
London which is a major research library, holding over 150 million books,
manuscripts, journals, newspapers, and more. Through research, I hope to
greater understand all solutions offered in different states and produce a
short film of my results.
- Methodology:
During
the first phase of my project for the first five week, I will be studying the
feather repository system by interning twelve hours a week at Liberty Wildlife.
Here at Liberty, I hope to use observation and outside research to answer the
first question that I posed: What do feathers mean to Arizona’s Native American
tribes and do they even still carry a profound significance today? Also, I will
gain insight to how the program deals with Native American feather requests. My
second phase lasts three weeks and this will be composed of personal research,
planning for my third phase. I will then use libraries and the internet to
fully understand the problems at hand. In my five week third phase, I will interview
those that run the feather repository program and gain contacts to interview
those that use the program. During this phase, I will attempt to answer the
rest of the questions and edit a video of my conclusion.
- Problems:
The
main problem that I foresee is conducting interviews with Native Americans
participating in the program. I do not know as of yet how willing participants
are in answering my questions and sharing their beliefs. If I cannot interview
anyone on Arizona’s reservations personally, I will rely on existing recorded
interviews.
- Bibliography:
Brown, Brian Edward.
"Religion, Law, and the Land: Native Americans and the Judicial
Interpretations of Sacred Land." Greenwood Press, 1999.
Carpenter, Kristen A.,
Individual Religious Freedoms in American Indian Tribal Constitutional Law,
"The Indian Civil Rights Act at Forty." UCLA American Indian Studies
Publications, 2012.
Fiegel, Eric. “Feds grant Native
American tribe permit to kill bald eagles for religious purposes”CNN. March 15th, 2012.
Neusner, Jacob, ed.
World Religions in America: An Introduction. Westminster John Knox Press:
Louisville, 2003.
Stewart, Omer C.
Peyote Religion: A History. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman and London,
1987.
Iraola, Roberto. "The Bald and Golden Eagle
Protection Act". Albany Law Review 68:
973–996. 2005.
Perkins, Matthew.
"The Federal Indian Trust Doctrine and the Bald and Golden Eagle
Protection Act: Could Application of the Doctrine Alter the Outcome in U.S. v.
Hugs".2000.
Neary, Ben. “Tribe: Bald
Eagle Permit a Victory for Tradition” The Associated Press. March 21, 2012.
McShane, Larry.” Northern Arapaho Indian Tribe gets right to kill bald
eagles” NY Daily News. March 14, 2012.
Mayntz, Melissa. “The
Importance of Bird Conservation” about.com. December 10, 2012.
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