Quote Originally Posted by goshawkr View Post
No where in that language does it say that US FWS cannot perform these inspections.

And in the register comments when those regulations were first published, the US FWS explicitly stated that they were not relinquishing their authority to do those inspections entirely. No surprise - when have you ever seen a government agency surrender power and authority?
No Geoff, you said that the " the US FWS expressly retained the ability to perform their own enforcement activities, including inspections," which is wrong. Here's the register comments that you referenced, seems to me the feds relinquished their authority to perform inspections.

• ‘‘Does the FWS retain the authority
to suspend or revoke falconry permits
under 50 CFR. If not, this should be
stated. Exactly what authority does the
Service (LE) retain under the proposed
regulations, i.e. with no Federal permit.
This should be clarified and stated in
the regulations.’’

Response. We do not believe that the
regulation change affects law
enforcement substantially, or that there
are additional regulatory or permitting
burdens placed on the States, tribes, or
territories. With one exception, Service
enforcement of the provisions of the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald
and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle
Act, 16 U.S.C. 668-668d) are not affected
by the regulations change. The
exception is that, because the Service
will no longer issue falconry permits,
Service law enforcement officers will
not have the authority to conduct
inspections of falconers’ records and
facilities, unless the Service officers also
are delegated State law enforcement
authority. The Service will not have
authority to suspend or revoke permits
issued by the States, tribes, or
territories, but compliance with all
provisions of these regulations remains
under the purview of the Service, and
falconry permittees are subject to
Federal prosecution for failure to
comply with the regulations.