This part controls the taking, possession, and transportation within the United States of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and their parts, nests, and eggs for scientific, educational, and depredation control purposes; for the religious purposes of American Indian tribes; and to protect other interests in a particular locality. This part also governs the transportation into or out of the United States of bald and golden eagle parts for scientific, educational, and Indian religious purposes. The import, export, purchase, sale, trade, or barter of bald and golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or eggs is prohibited.

(a)(1) You can possess or transport within the United States, without a Federal permit:

(i) Any live or dead bald eagles, or their parts, nests, or eggs that were lawfully acquired before June 8, 1940; and

(ii) Any live or dead golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or eggs that were lawfully acquired before October 24, 1962.

(2) You may not transport into or out of the United States, import, export, purchase, sell, trade, barter, or offer for purchase, sale, trade, or barter bald or golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or eggs of these lawfully acquired pre-act birds. However, you may transport into or out of the United States any lawfully acquired dead bald or golden eagles, their parts, nests, or dead eagles, if you acquire a permit issued under § 22.60 of this part.

(3) No exemption from any statute or regulation will apply to any offspring of these pre-act birds.

(4) You must mark all shipments containing bald or golden eagles, alive or dead, their parts, nests, or eggs as directed in § 14.81 of this subchapter. The markings must contain the name and address of the person the shipment is going to, the name and address of the person the shipment is coming from, an accurate list of contents by species, and the number of each species.

(b) The provisions in this part are in addition to, and are not in lieu of, other regulations of this subchapter B which may require a permit or prescribe additional restrictions or conditions for the importation, exportation, and interstate transportation of wildlife (see also part 13 of this subchapter).

In addition to the definitions contained in part 10 of this subchapter, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this part 22:

Alternate nest means one of potentially several nests within a nesting territory that is not an in-use nest at the current time. When there is no in-use nest, all nests in the territory are alternate nests.

Communal roost site means an area where eagles gather repeatedly in the course of a season and shelter overnight and sometimes during the day in the event of inclement weather.

Compatible with the preservation of the bald eagle or the golden eagle means consistent with the goals of maintaining stable or increasing breeding populations in all eagle management units and the persistence of local populations throughout the geographic range of each species.

Cumulative effects means the incremental environmental impact or effect of the proposed action, together with impacts of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions.

Disturb means to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, (1) injury to an eagle, (2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or (3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior.

Eagle management unit (EMU) means a geographically bounded region within which permitted take is regulated to meet the management goal of maintaining stable or increasing breeding populations of bald eagles or golden eagles.

(1) The Atlantic EMU is Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

(2) The Mississippi EMU is Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

(3) The Central EMU is Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas; portions of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming east of the Continental Divide; and portions of Montana east of Hill, Chouteau, Cascade, Meagher, and Park Counties.

(4) The Pacific EMU is Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington; portions of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide; and in Montana Hill, Chouteau, Cascade, Meagher, and Park Counties and all counties west of those counties.

(5) An EMU may be further divided between north and south along the 40th Parallel.

Eagle nest means any assemblage of materials built, maintained, or used by bald eagles or golden eagles for the purpose of reproduction. An eagle nest remains an eagle nest until it becomes so diminished, or the nest substrate upon which it is built fails, that the nest is no longer usable and is not likely to become usable to eagles, as determined by a Federal, Tribal, or State eagle biologist.

Export for the purpose of this part does not include the transportation of any dead bald or golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or dead eggs out of the United States when accompanied with a valid transportation permit.

Foraging area means an area where eagles regularly feed during one or more seasons.

General permit means a permit that has nationwide or regional standard conditions for a category, or categories, of activities that are substantially similar in nature.

Import for the purpose of this part does not include the transportation of any dead bald or golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or dead eggs into the United States when accompanied with a valid transportation permit.

Important eagle-use area means an eagle nest, foraging area, or communal roost site that eagles rely on for breeding, sheltering, or feeding, and the landscape features surrounding such nest, foraging area, or roost site that are essential for the continued viability of the site for breeding, feeding, or sheltering eagles.

In-use nest means a bald eagle or golden eagle nest that contains one or more viable eggs or dependent young, or, for golden eagles only, has had adult eagles on the nest within the past 10 days during the breeding season.

Incidental take means take that is foreseeable and results from, but is not the purpose of, an activity.

Indirect effects means effects for which a proposed action is a cause, and which may occur later in time and/or be physically manifested beyond the initial impacts of the action, but are still reasonably likely to occur.

Local area population (LAP) means the bald or golden eagle population within the area of a human activity or project bounded by the natal dispersal distance for the respective species. The LAP is estimated using the average eagle density of the EMU or EMUs where the activity or project is located.

Necessary to ensure public health and safety means required to maintain society's well-being in matters of health and safety.

Nesting attempt means any activity by golden eagles involving egg laying and incubation as determined by the presence of an egg attended by an adult, an adult in incubation posture, or other evidence indicating recent use of a golden eagle nest for incubation of eggs or rearing of young.

Nesting territory means the area that contains one or more eagle nests within the home range of a mated pair of eagles, regardless of whether such nests were built by the current resident pair.

Person means an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity, or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of any State or political subdivision of a State.

Practicable means available and capable of being done after taking into consideration existing technology, logistics, and cost in light of a mitigation measure's beneficial value to eagles and the activity's overall purpose, scope, and scale.

Resource development or recovery includes, but is not limited to, mining, timbering, extracting oil, natural gas and geothermal energy, construction of roads, dams, reservoirs, power plants, power transmission lines, and pipelines, as well as facilities and access routes essential to these operations, and reclamation following any of these operations.

Safety emergency means a situation that necessitates immediate action to alleviate a threat of bodily harm to humans or eagles.

Take means pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy, molest, or disturb.

Transportation into or out of the United States for the purpose of this part means that the permitted item or items transported into or out of the United States do not change ownership at any time, they are not transferred from one person to another in the pursuit of gain or profit, and they are transported into or out of the United States for Indian religious purposes, or for scientific or exhibition purposes under the conditions and during the time period specified on a transportation permit for the items.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the information collection requirements contained in this part and assigned OMB Control Number 1018-0167. Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of the information collection to the Service's Information Collection Clearance Officer at the address provided at 50 CFR 2.1(b).

You may not take, possess, or transport any bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) or any golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), or the parts, nests, or eggs of such birds, except as allowed by a valid permit issued under this part, 50 CFR part 13, 50 CFR part 17, and/or 50 CFR part 21 as provided by § 21.4, or authorized under a depredation order issued under subpart D of this part. We will accept a single application for a permit under this part and any other parts of this subchapter B if it includes all of the information required for an application under each applicable part.

(a) A permit that covers take of bald eagles or golden eagles under 50 CFR part 17 for purposes of providing prospective or current ESA authorization constitutes a valid permit issued under this part for any take authorized under the permit issued under part 17 as long as the permittee is in full compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit issued under part 17. The provisions of part 17 that originally applied will apply for purposes of the Eagle Act authorization, except that the criterion for revocation of the permit is that the activity is incompatible with the preservation of the bald eagle or the golden eagle rather than inconsistent with the criterion set forth in 16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(2)(B)(iv).

(b) You do not need a permit under parts 17 and 21 of this subchapter B for any activity permitted under this part 22 with respect to bald or golden eagles or their parts, nests, or eggs.

(c) A permit under this part only authorizes take, possession, and/or transport under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and does not provide authorization under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act or the Endangered Species Act for the take, possession, and/or transport of migratory birds or endangered or threatened species other than bald or golden eagles.

(d) If you are transporting dead bald or golden eagles, or their parts, nests, or dead eggs into or out of the United States, you will also need a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) permit under part 23 of this subchapter.

(a) You may not sell, purchase, barter, trade, import, or export, or offer for sale, purchase, barter, or trade, at any time or in any manner, any bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), or any golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), or the parts, nests, or eggs of these birds, and we will not issue a permit to authorize these acts.

(b) You may not transport into or out of the United States any live bald or golden eagle, or any live egg of those birds, and we will not issue a permit to authorize these acts.

(c) Application for a permit does not release you from liability for any take that occurs prior to issuance of, or outside the terms of, a permit.