The National Eagle Repository, located northeast of Denver, Colorado, provides a central location for the collection, storage and distribution of dead bald and golden eagles and their parts. The eagles and their parts are distributed to Native Americans who are enrolled in federally recognized tribes, for use in religious and cultural ceremonies. It is illegal for any individual to possess a bald or golden eagle, including feathers, feet, etc. without a federal permit. By providing feathers to Native Americans, the pressure to take birds from the wild is reduced, thereby protecting eagle populations. Click here to go to the Eagle Repository web site.

• BALD AND GOLDEN EAGLE PROTECTION ACT
  This Act makes it illegal for anyone to take, possess, sale, purchase, barter, or offer to sell, purchase, or barter, export or import at any time or in any manner of the bald eagle or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid permit issued pursuant to Federal regulations.
  
  In 1782, the Continental Congress adopted the bald eagle as a national symbol. During the next one and a half centuries, sportsmen, taxidermists, anglers and farmers heavily hunted the bald eagle. In 1940, to prevent the Bald Eagle from becoming extinct, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act. In 1962, Congress amended the Eagle Act to cover golden eagles and authorized the Secretary of the Interior to grant permits to Native Americans for traditional religious use of eagles and eagle parts and feathers.

• MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT
  The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) makes it illegal for anyone to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid permit issued pursuant to Federal regulations.
  
  Under this Act all but a few bird species (some game birds, rock dove/pigeon, European house sparrow and European starling) and their parts naturally occurring in the US are fully protected. Alphabetical list of birds protected under this federal regulation.
  
  The primary motivation for negotiation of the 1916 treaty and the passage of the MBTA was to stop the "indiscriminate slaughter" of migratory birds by market hunters and others. The MBTA is the statute that executes the four treaties within the United States. The list of species protected by the MBTA appears in Title 50, section 10.13, of the Code of Federal Regulations (50 CFR 10.13). Each of the treaties below protects selected species of birds and has basic closed and open seasons for hunting game birds.
  

1. Great Britain on behalf of Canada (1916) for the protection of the many species of birds that traverse certain parts of the United States and Canada in their annual migration. Canada (amended in December 1995) to allow traditional subsistence hunting of migratory birds
2. Mexico (1936, amended 1972 and 1999)
3. Japan (1972)
4. Russia (1976)

• CITES - CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES
  CITES establishes a system of import/export regulations to prevent the over-exploitation of plants and animals listed in three appendices to the Convention. Different levels of trade regulations are provided depending on the status of the listed species and the contribution trade makes to decline of the species. Procedures are provided for periodic amendments to the appendices.
  
  CITES was signed by 80 nations in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1973. CITES entered into force on July 1, 1975.

• ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
  Prohibits the taking, hunting, harming or harassing of listed species.
  
  Established in 1973, the Endangered Species Act establishes procedures for the identification and protection of endangered plants and animals in their critical habitats. The goal through cooperative federal and state protective and management efforts is to restore endangered populations to a level where protection is no longer necessary.
  

• LACEY ACT
  The Lacey Act prohibits game animals that is illegally taken in one state to be shipped across state boundaries contrary to the laws of the state where taken.
  
  By the late 1800s, the hunting and shipment of birds for the commercial market (to embellish the platters of elegant restaurants) and the plume trade (to provide feathers to adorn woman's fancy hats) had taken their toll on many bird species. Passenger pigeons, whose immense flocks had once darkened the skies, were nearing extinction. Populations of the Eskimo curlew and other shorebirds had been decimated. The snowy egret and other colonial-nesting wading birds had been reduced to mere remnants of their historical populations.
  
  The Lacey Act (passed on May 25, 1900) has become a very effective tool for enforcing the wildlife protective laws of the States and the Federal government. However, in the early years of the 20th century the Act was ineffective in stopping interstate shipments, largely because of the huge profits enjoyed by the market hunters and the lack of officers to enforce the law.
  

• WILD BIRD CONSERVATION ACT
  This act establishes a federal system to limit or prohibit U.S. imports of exotic bird species.
  
  Signed October 23, 1992 The Wild Bird Conservation Act:
  

1. Imposes a moratorium on the importation of certain exotic bird species identified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
2. Provides procedures for adding or removing trade suspensions of any CITES listed bird species
3. Provides criteria to determine whether exotic bird breeding facilities in other nations are "qualified" to export species to the U.S
4. Authorizes emergency moratoria or quotas if determined necessary for species conservation
5. Sets forth criteria for permits (i.e. exemptions) for the importation of exotic birds
6. Establishes an Exotic Bird Conservation Fund