In a move criticized as unprecedented and apparently against agency regulations, National Park Service Director Chuck Sams signed off on a request to allow the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico to kill either a bald or golden eagle in Valles Caldera Preserve.
A split 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given the Jemez Pueblo rights to use a portion of Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico as their ancestors did, a ruling that raises the prospect that tribes elsewhere in the United States will seek to regain their traditional homelands.