..

When the last issue of OTW was published I was ready to fly to Texas from North Carolina to visit during the Summer Camp at Lake Whitney. I am pleased to write that not only did I make it to Summer Camp, I had a BLAST. The trip was exactly what I expected. Good friends, great food and tremendous fellowship. I was greeted by all of the wonderful folks of the THA that could attend and if you missed it, you missed having a great time. Just seeing John, Sheldon, Krys and others again was worth the trip. It was a genuine pleasure to meet so many of you, whose names I knew but was unable to put a face with.

Since my last report to you NAFA has moved forward on a number of issues and concerns in the falconry community. Most of these I have already shared with you in my emails that I send to the NAFA Membership about every two weeks.

You may read this report after the fact, but as I write this I am prepared to “hit the road again”, this time to the far shores of my own home state, North Carolina. There I will try to lobby the Atlantic Flyway Council for a formal request to the USFWS to increase the number of passage peregrines that each flyway would be allocated. I won’t go into a lot of detail here, but if the three affected flyway councils will make a formal request to the USFWS and support the 5% allowable take under the environmental assessment, I think it will ease the concerns over the really low numbers of permits allocated to each flyway. What this would likely mean in Texas is the availability of more birds for take by falconers.

I wish I could say all this was a piece of cake and real easy to do. It’s not. Sometimes it means making these trips to meet face to face with the people that make the regulations, and to shake hands and politely ask for their help. They are good people and well intentioned, but very few of them really know anything about falconry. Our job (yours and mine) is to help educate them. This is an important resource for falconry and we want to see those opportunities for falconers increase.

Right now, we still do not know the final allocations. But by the time this issue of OTW is published, we will. And as soon as that formal announcement is made, we will put it out to the NAFA Membership and I am sure, even if you are not a NAFA Member, word will get to you. I understand the TPWD is already set and ready to go and are currently just waiting on final numbers. It will likely be 12/12/12 this year (12 birds in each flyway). This is not the most effective or efficient distribution of permits, and would certainly not be based on the biology or even the likelihood of trapping a peregrine, especially in the Mississippi Flyway. NAFA made its recommendations. We do not know as of today how those recommendations will be received.

We are still in a tussle over the adequate availability and the “red-tape” over wild take of eagles from depredation areas. All I can tell you is that we are continuing to try to make sure that remains. The NAFA Eagle Committee is on top of these issues and we are working with others across the board. There is often a lot of rhetoric that flies across cyber space about who is doing what. NAFA does have a plan and we are working on the different aspects of that plan. If you would like to read it, the plan is available on the NAFA website in the Members Area. Just scroll down to Eagle Committee Resource Repository to review the latest information.

Speaking of the website, man that just continues to grow and grow. Just like the wonderful THA site, it is full of information, tips, guidance, etc. Starting with the last issue of the Hawk Chalk, your Hawk Chalks are now online for you to read- often a good two to three weeks before it arrives in the mail. These are located in the Members Area- just scroll down to Hawk Chalks.

The NAFA Meet is scheduled for the week of November 21-27, 2010 in Dodge City, Kansas. Kevin Suedmeyer is out meet chair this year. Kevin has done a number of meets in Kansas and always does an outstanding job. We know this is going to be a very popular meet too. The meet hotel filled to capacity within 24 hours of being open for registration. WOW. There are plenty of other hotels in the area, so take your pick, cut your best deal and come join in a great party and a great time hawking with old and new friends. If I am not in some meeting somewhere (and even if I am), come find me, let’s get in the truck and go hawking.  Hope to see ALL of you there. - Larry

Larry Dickerson, President
North American Falconer’s Association
nafapresident@n-a-f-a.com