PRESS RELEASE u.s. department of the interior

national park service

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Rick Frost (303) 987-6732

Pat Parker (202) 208-5475

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ISSUES A PROPOSED RULE

REGARDING THE HOPI COLLECTION OF GOLDEN EAGLETS

FROM WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT

The National Park Service issued a proposed rule on the collection of Golden Eaglets by the Hopi Tribe from Wupatki National Monument in Arizona. The rule was published in the federal register on January 22, 2001, and will be available for public comment for 60 days from the date it was printed.

The National Park Service is issuing the proposed rule as a means of seeking public comment on the collection of Golden Eaglets at Wupatki National Monument. The NPS will use those public comments to assist it in determining whether the proposed rule is an acceptable, reasonable response to Hopi requests to gather Golden Eaglets at Wupatki National Monument, or whether another approach is needed.

According to the proposed rule, the National Park Service has preliminarily determined that under certain circumstance it is appropriate to allow the Hopi Tribe to collect Golden Eaglets within Wupatki National Monument in Arizona for religious ceremonial purposes. The proposed rule would authorize this activity upon terms and conditions sufficient to protect park resources against impairment and consistent with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The proposed rule deals strictly and exclusively with the Hopi Tribe’s proposal to collect eaglets at Wupatki National Monument. No other unit of the National Park Service would be affected by the proposed rule. It is also specific to one area within Wupatki National Monument where there are eagle nests historically associated with the Hopi Tribe. The proposed rule would affect only the Hopi Tribe and only certain clans within the Hopi Tribe.

If the proposed rule becomes final, analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) would have to be done before the park superintendent could issue a permit to the Hopi for collection of Golden Eaglets.

An environmental assessment (EA) has been prepared to accompany the proposed rule. The Environmental Assessment and the proposed rule are available online at http://www.nps.gov/wupa/pphtml/facts.html. Hard copies of the Environmental Assessment and the Proposed Rule are available from the Superintendent, National Park Service, 6400 N. Highway 89, Flagstaff, AZ 86004 or call (520) 526-1157.