[Nhcoll-l] NSC Alliance Washington Report - READ THIS ONE!

[Brown, Matthew A]

Haha, well if that's so, then color me corrected. I'd read this as permit for acquisition or disposal, not to hold collections, but it does say possess. I guess my first call tomorrow will be to the FWS permitting office asking why they are insistent that a special purpose permit is necessary for us to hold a few thousand migratory birds in our collections.

Matt



Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 19, 2015, at 9:29 PM, Kevin Winker <kevin.winker at alaska.edu<mailto:kevin.winker at alaska.edu>> wrote:

Nope. Sorry. This is incorrect: "The only way for a museum collection to legally hold non-eagle migratory bird specimens is with a special purpose permit issued under § 21.27. " See 50 CFR 21.12(b). I suspect most of the bigger and more active bird collections in the U.S. fall under this clause. Those who aren't may wish to inquire whether they can. Here are the details:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_CFR-2D2010-2Dtitle50-2Dvol6_xml_CFR-2D2010-2Dtitle50-2Dvol6-2Dsec21-2D12.xml&d=AwIFAw&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nNgs7Q4Cr1pnZXtJg54-yar0U5Zy4qKwMpod11uvphk&s=ouh9A5X1Fzko--AuIGNtlzeM9jGotX2CPZhLjRWB4Ws&e= 

"(b)(1) State game departments, municipal game farms or parks, and public museums, public zoological parks, accredited institutional members of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) and public scientific or educational institutions may acquire by gift or purchase, possess, transport, and by gift or sale dispose of lawfully acquired migratory birds or their progeny, parts, nests, or eggs without a permit: Provided, That such birds may be acquired only from persons authorized by this paragraph or by a permit issued pursuant to this part to possess and dispose of such birds, or from Federal or State game authorities by the gift of seized, condemned, r sick or injured birds. Any such birds, acquired without a permit, and any progeny therefrom may be disposed of only to persons authorized by this paragraph to acquire such birds without a permit. Any person exercising a privilege granted by this paragraph must keep accurate records of such operations showing the species and number of birds acquired, possessed, and disposed of; the names and addresses of the persons from whom such birds were acquired or to whom such birds were donated or sold; and the dates of such transactions. Records shall be maintained or reproducible in English on a calendar year basis and shall be retained for a period of five (5) years following the end of the calendar year covered by the records."

With this, I agree: "One can't just cherry-pick parts of the laws that seem to support your argument, you have to read the relevant laws and regulations in their totality." And that's why I won't be expounding on issues related to paleo collections. ;)

Best, K.

On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Brown, Matthew A <matthewbrown at utexas.edu<mailto:matthewbrown at utexas.edu>> wrote:
I'm just going to try this bird permit explanation one last time, and then for the sake of everybody's sanity and probable feelings of disgust, I'll give up.

I know that § 21.23 is the scientific collecting permit. And it is only that. It does not authorize the holding of museum collections, in fact § 21.23(c)(1) disallows the keeping of specimens unless the scientific collector is issued a special purpose permit under § 21.27. The only way for a museum collection to legally hold non-eagle migratory bird specimens is with a special purpose permit issued under § 21.27. Those permit conditions mandate annual reporting. CFR 50, Chapter 1, Subchapter B, Part 13, Subpart D § 13.48 requires compliance by the museum with all conditions, including the annual reporting conditions. I have one of these special purpose permits in my hand, right now, looking at the section where it says it is issued under the authority of § 13 and § 21.27, and that annual reporting is required each year. Not just for five years, but each year that the permit is valid. That means that as long as an institution holds migratory birds, annual Federal reporting is required. One can't just cherry-pick parts of the laws that seem to support your argument, you have to read the relevant laws and regulations in their totality.

And we haven't even gotten to migratory birds collected from Federal land yet. This is just DOI USFWS regs for migratory birds that aren't bald or golden eagles. Not for paleo or cultural items, not even for all natural history collections. Just non-eagle migratory birds. Onerous? Maybe. But it is also required by law, and what we signed up for when we took positions of responsibility in museums.



> On Feb 19, 2015, at 2:43 PM, Ellen Paul <ellen.paul at verizon.net<mailto:ellen.paul at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
> By the way, 21.27 is NOT "
> "The special use permit required by § 21.27 for a museum collection"
>
> 21.27 is just what it says it is: Permits may be issued for special purpose activities related to migratory birds, their parts, nests, or eggs, which are otherwise outside the scope of the standard form permits of this part. A special purpose permit for migratory bird related activities not otherwise provided for in this part may be issued to an applicant who submits a written application containing the general information and certification required by part 13 and makes a sufficient showing of benefit to the migratory bird resource, important research reasons, reasons of human concern for individual birds, or other compelling justification.
>
>
> Scientific collecting is covered by 21.23. Therefore, 21.27 is inapplicable.
>
> Ellen Paul
> Executive Director
> The Ornithological Council
> Email:
> ellen.paul at verizon.net<mailto:ellen.paul at verizon.net>
>
> "Providing Scientific Information about Birds
> "
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=mPwcdPJvBXjWEXqjb6PW7yMBMoOsdQrXAC2_7oZUNPw&s=UsNXAFaBAHIerQGjpFN5dtwwwlq7Lc2IXJc4OcwJ9KA&e= "
>
> On 2/19/15 3:28 PM, Brown, Matthew A wrote:
>> REPOSITORY RECEIPT FOR COLLECTIONS
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=mPwcdPJvBXjWEXqjb6PW7yMBMoOsdQrXAC2_7oZUNPw&s=cH1K2cL8FWfssRNn8g9BjMScv80dXBCAt1XhJGkd6yU&e=  for membership information.

_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.spnhc.org&d=AwIFAw&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nNgs7Q4Cr1pnZXtJg54-yar0U5Zy4qKwMpod11uvphk&s=li42Sfr54PiGlL6PIboyHVQbRS96gHFcSiM5dC877fE&e=  for membership information.



--
Kevin Winker
University of Alaska Museum
907 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20150220/c4c24288/attachment-0001.html