Eagle-killing permit paused at New Mexico’s Valles Caldera

A court sided for now with Santa Clara and Zia Pueblos, finding the killing of even one eagle in the preserve likely burdens their religion.(CN) — A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a permit that would let one New Mexico tribe kill an eagle in a caldera that two others consider sacred.U.S. District Judge Kea Riggs, a Donald Trump appointee, ordered the National Park Service to hold off on issuing the permit for 13 days, until Nov. 10. She set a hearing for Nov. 9 on whether to extend the order.The permit would allow Jemez Pueblo to take — meaning kill — one golden or bald eagle inside the Valles Caldera National Preserve, west of Santa Fe. Golden eagle season was set to open Wednesday and run through Nov. 27. Bald eagle season would run from Nov. 1 through Nov. 27.Jemez Pueblo is a federally recognized tribe of about 3,400 enrolled members in Sandoval County. Its ancestral lands include Banco Bonito, a roughly 3,000-acre section of the caldera, where a settlement with the federal government recognized its right to hold cultural, traditional and religious practices.The Pueblo of Santa Clara and Pueblo of Zia, also federally recognized tribes, sued the park service, arguing the permit violates their religious freedom and federal environmental and administrative laws. Riggs addressed only the religious freedom claim.Golden and bald eagles are sacred to the Santa Clara and Zia people, who say killing even one in the caldera would interfere with religious practices that depend on access to live eagles.“Allowing harm to come to eagles in the preserve is strongly against the Pueblos’ cultural and religious values,” the Pueblos wrote in their lawsuit.Riggs found the pueblos likely to win under the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, which bars the federal government from substantially burdening religious exercise unless it uses the least restrictive means to serve a compelling interest.She found that killing even one eagle in the caldera would substantially burden the pueblos’ sincerely held religious beliefs. She cited a Tenth Circuit ruling that found limits on access to sacred eagle feathers could substantially burden religious exercise.But Riggs also recognized Jemez Pueblo’s religious interests.“Just like the preservation of eagles is core to Plaintiffs’ religious practices, eagle taking is core to Jemez Pueblo’s religious exercise,” she wrote.The government, she added, “has a compelling interest in permitting Jemez Pueblo to take eagles, lest it substantially burden its religious exercise.”Riggs found the government could meet that interest without allowing eagle killing in the preserve. A separate permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lets Jemez Pueblo take up to eight eagles across five New Mexico counties. Because the park service runs the preserve, that permit alone does not cover it.The least restrictive option, she said, is to let Jemez Pueblo take eagles at other places covered by the federal permit, but not in the caldera.“Nothing in the record suggests that this practice must be exercised within Valles Caldera,” she wrote.The caldera is spiritually and ceremonially important to 37 tribes, including Jemez Pueblo, according to Riggs.Without a restraining order, Santa Clara and Zia faced harm that money could not repair, Riggs found. The injury “cuts to the core of their religions,” and Jemez Pueblo could have taken an eagle as early as Wednesday, before the court could fully consider the dispute.Blocking the permit would cause the government little harm, she said. If the government wins at the hearing, Jemez Pueblo would still have more than two weeks left on the permit. The Pueblo took numerous eagles in the caldera under a 2023 permit, Riggs noted.Riggs’ ruling is temporary and does not resolve the Pueblos’ claims under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.The Pueblo of Santa Clara, Pueblo of Zia, National Park Service and Jemez Pueblo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads