Since its formation in 2002, the American Falconry Conservancy has accomplished a great deal.

1. Through our efforts, Minnesota - the best State in the Union for trapping passage goshawks - was opened for non-resident take.

2. Through our efforts, South Dakota - an excellent State in the lower 48 for trapping gyrs - was opened for non-resident take.

3. Several years ago we initiated the thrust with falconers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Montana to open to non-resident take and they are working on opening their doors as they are re-writing their falconry regs.

4. We have retained the finest legal counsel in the country, William Horn, for wildlife law. He was previously Assistant Secretary for the Dept. of the Interior under President Reagan.

5. We objected to the FWS's inclusion of the authority to inspect falconers' facilities when the Proposed Falconry Regs were published. FWS took this objection to the Department of Justice, which stated that when FWS gives up the permitting authority, they must give up the power for FWS to inspect.

6. Through our Counsel, we objected to the FWS stating in the Draft Environmental Assessment and the Proposed Propagation Regs that our raptors are not our private property but remain the property of the State. They withdrew this position and George Allen of FWS retracted this stance and admitted that FWS was wrong and in fact our raptors, both wild and domestic bred, are indeed private property.

7. Through our Counsel, we objected to the FWS limiting the amount of raptors we can possess in the Proposed Falconry Regs. In the Final Falconry Regs they removed restrictions on domestic bred birds.

8. We have assisted several States with comments on delisting peregrines.

9. There are a variety of other issues that we have helped resolve with State and Federal agencies. One was an attempt by the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit take of eyass raptors on a federal park in Kentucky. Through well-connected individuals, we were able to prevent this from happening.

You may ask, "What are you doing for me now?" Currently, we are working on helping States to adopt State falconry regulations. We are against inspections after the permit has been issued, since it then becomes a search, which violates the 4th Amendment. We intend to petition the FWS to get this offensive language removed. There are other provisions within the falconry regulations that are also offensive which we will petition FWS to remove.

There are several other issues we are working on right now and we will be posting information about them soon!

We would not have been able to accomplish these goals without the active support of our membership; it has allowed us to procure the legal representation to move forward expeditiously on matters that affect our right to practice our sport. We believe that actively maintaining open lines of communication with our membership is what has been responsible for our continued growth. We hope this trend continues unabated!