Draft Environmental Assessment: Take of Raptors from the Wild Under the Falconry Regulations and the Raptor Propagation Regulations

摘要

In this Draft Environmental Assessment we consider the take of wild raptors for use in falconry and in raptor propagation. We considered three alternatives for the falconry and raptor propagation regulations. In particular, at the request of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, we considered elimination of the federal/state falconry permitting system and replacing it with a state permitting system operating within a prescribed federal framework. For dealing with take of nestling American peregrine falcons, this Environmental Assessment supplants the 2004 Final Revised Environmental Assessment on take of nestlings for use in falconry. The population analyses herein are based on a more comprehensive analysis of the effects of take on the wild population than was employed in the 2004 assessment. However, take of nestling peregrine falcons outside the 12 western states covered under the 2004 FEA is not covered in this assessment. Because it is a complicated issue deserving independent evaluation, take of first-year migrant peregrine falcons will be covered in a separate Environmental Assessment Take of migrant peregrines is not allowed until that assessment is complete. The preferred alternative is to establish upper limits on take of raptor species based on the published data for, and biology of, each species; to eliminate the federal permitting for falconry, but to leave the current captive propagation federal permitting program in place.