Need to connect with raptor breeders over questions about there permits

I am a raptor breeder in Region 1 of the USFWS. This region's MBTA permit office has a long history, going back at least 30 years, of acting in an extra legal fashion with the permits that issue, and I have an example of that on my breeding permit. At the moment, I would prefer to not go into those details in a public forum.

However, I have confirmed with a friend of mine who lives in Region 8 that his federal breeding permit does not have the same restrictions that mine does.

Before I fully engage in my discussion with my regional office, I would like to make contact with breeders in all of the other federal regional offices. If someone from those regions can please contact me or if you know the contact info for someone in those regions I would appreciate it if you would please pass that along. I do not want anyone - myself included - subjected to SPAM harvested from the forum, so please reach out to me by private message on this forum, or if you already know my contact info feel free to text/email.

The regions I need to contact are:

• Region 2: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
• Region 3: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
• Region 4: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
• Region 5: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia
• Region 6: Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
• Region 7: Alaska

I have made connections with a breeder in Pennsylvania and one in Kansas. The regions I am still hoping to get data from are:

• Region 2: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
• Region 3: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin
• Region 4: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
• Region 7: Alaska

More progess, thanks to those who have helped! The regions I am still hoping to get data from are:

• Region 2: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas
• Region 4: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
• Region 7: Alaska

Steve Sherrod in OK would be a good one.

the recent issues have stemmed from one permit administrator there who unfortunately has just been the thorn in the side of many many permittees from falconry, to rehab, to taxidermy, to abatement, to breeding, to education. They have been processing permits in arbitrary and inconsistent ways, and inserting restrictions that have no basis and are not being recognized in any other region....this is the M.O. of this person. There have been several complaints on the record so to speak, so those involved are trying to get together and document the issues and send complaints in an organized, professional way. I am usually the first one to give agency colleagues the benefit of the doubt, but on this case, I threw in the towel...the issue for me is that ongoing interference and mistreatment has alienated many permittees who are doing good work for the resource.

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Originally Posted by Montucky

the recent issues have stemmed from one permit administrator there who unfortunately has just been the thorn in the side of many many permittees from falconry, to rehab, to taxidermy, to abatement, to breeding, to education. They have been processing permits in arbitrary and inconsistent ways, and inserting restrictions that have no basis and are not being recognized in any other region....this is the M.O. of this person. There have been several complaints on the record so to speak, so those involved are trying to get together and document the issues and send complaints in an organized, professional way. I am usually the first one to give agency colleagues the benefit of the doubt, but on this case, I threw in the towel...the issue for me is that ongoing interference and mistreatment has alienated many permittees who are doing good work for the resource.

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Wasn't this person recently promoted to the national permits administrator?

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Originally Posted by Montucky

the recent issues have stemmed from one permit administrator there who unfortunately has just been the thorn in the side of many many permittees from falconry, to rehab, to taxidermy, to abatement, to breeding, to education. They have been processing permits in arbitrary and inconsistent ways, and inserting restrictions that have no basis and are not being recognized in any other region....this is the M.O. of this person. There have been several complaints on the record so to speak, so those involved are trying to get together and document the issues and send complaints in an organized, professional way. I am usually the first one to give agency colleagues the benefit of the doubt, but on this case, I threw in the towel...the issue for me is that ongoing interference and mistreatment has alienated many permittees who are doing good work for the resource.

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She is just the latest incarnation of a LONG running problem. My assessment is that it is just the current incarnation of a culture from that office. And really, compared to the history of this regional office, things pretty reasonable now. However, I have a disability where I cannot tolerate bullying. And government officials abusing their authority trigger that response in me.

More than two decades ago a good friend of mine was a victim of a clear case of retaliation from that regional permit office that should have resulted in prison time for the offender, but he preferred to drop it and enjoy life rather than endure the long term anguish that would come if he chose to pursue legal action.

It's been close to 10 years since I've had both feet immersed in my interactions with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), specifically the regional office in Denver. Prior to this, however, I had worked toward getting eagles available from the wild for falconry. My work began in the early 1980's and spanned approximately 26 years.

In the early stages of gathering information, I noticed that each FWS regional office acted with almost complete, administrative autotomy! It was as if each regional office was located in a different country! This included the interpretation and administration of the coded federal wildlife regulations they were charged by Congress to manage nationwide. I compare it to the IRS interpreting and administering federal tax regulations differently depending on which state you live in! And I also quickly discovered that the Denver regional office had, what appeared to be, complete administrative authority over golden eagles in the Rocky Mountain West. This continued for the most part when the office of migratory birds took over the administration of falconry from law enforcement.

Some regional offices are a breeze to work with, and a few have a history of pulling teeth and instructing you to give blood before they'll even answer your inquiries!

They say there is a fourth branch of the federal government that has emerged the last few decades in the U.S. In addition to the legislative, judicial and executive branches, we now have the bureaucratic branch! This new unofficial branch is made up of career, nonelected bureaucrats who write and implement policy that actually appears to replace and be more powerful than the laws and regulations the "policy" is supposed to help administer!

My friend Frank Bond warned and educated me about the dangers of unchecked policy written and implemented behind closed doors to administer federal regulations in several agencies!

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Originally Posted by Saluqi

Wasn't this person recently promoted to the national permits administrator?

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No that person wasnt great but generally i found less bad:) She has not been processing permits directly for about 6 years and then transferred out. The person I am talking about was hired under her to be the main Monday to Friday permit processor. She is a giant pain in the A%($*:) HOWEVER there is a new Permit Chief who is new and receptive to constructive criticism. I have complained directly to her once already after she was appointed. I recommend folks organize calm, collected professional complaints. Its easy for me to say now that I no longer manage a big pile of education and eagle permits and the like. Im out baby!!:) But I get riled up when they mess with some of the really outstanding rehabbers in the region. I have talked to several USFWS staff in other regions who have indicated something to the effect of "We dont know what Region 1 is thinking"

to clarify yes I think the Region Permit Chief was promoted but I am a bit confused where... but the REgion 1 underling has been the one that has caused so much heartache,