Tribal eagle rescue center eyed for Harbor Springs area

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By MEGHAN KING
Capital News Service

LANSING — A tribal aviary north of Harbor Springs will be the first of its kind east of the Mississippi River.

A raptor rescue-and-release nonprofit organization in northern Michigan and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of the Odawa Indians plan to open an eagle aviary and rehabilitation center.

Eagles are significant to the tribes and are known ecologically as a keystone species, said Doug Craven, the natural resource department director for the Little Traverse Bay Bands.

“They have a cultural significance to us,” Craven said. “They have a biological role that they play in the environment.”

Both facilities will be located on land belonging to the Little Traverse Bay Bands.

The buildings will be known as the Migizi Aviary and the Wings of Wonder Rehabilitation Center.

The Migizi Aviary will be named for a Native American word for eagle. 

An associated rehabilitation center will be named Wings of Wonder after an organization that has cared for raptors for 31 years. 

“The tribe has decided to name the rehabilitation center Wings of Wonder in my honor and continue the legacy of Wings of Wonder,” said Rebecca Lessard, the founder and executive director of the rehabilitation center in Empire. 

The organization returns sick and injured birds to the wild, presents educational programs to thousands of people and increases public awareness about wildlife ecology and environmental issues related to raptors, according to the organization’s website.

Craven said Lessard is retiring and closing her facility.

“That’s creating a void here in northern Michigan and in pretty much the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula as well,” Craven said. “There won’t be a certified facility that’s able to take eagles and/or rehabilitate them.”

Lessard said the $600,000 project will take place in three phases. 

The first phase is $200,000 to build the rehabilitation component. The second phase will be the lab, office and clinic building. 

The third phase will be the actual tribal aviary to house eagles that cannot be released due to injury, growing up in captivity or illnesses that threaten their survival in the wild.

Craven and the Little Traverse Bay Bands are looking for donations, partners and volunteers to aid the project once it is completed.

“We reached out to the other tribes in the state and we’re still looking for a lot of help to make this project come to its completion,” Craven said. 

“One of the things that we think is exciting about it is that it is not just viewed as a tribal project, so we’re working closely with Wings of Wonder,” Craven said.

The center wants to permanently house eagles to shed light on problems affecting them and to improve public understanding of them, Craven said.

Craven and the Little Traverse Bay Bands are looking at the facility as something that the nontribal public can participate in as well.

Lessard said, “The outreach for educational programming will be limitless.”

She said, “As people become much more aware of the needs of these top predators, there’s a stronger conservation message and land is more protected, which is going to help other species, plants, insects and other mammals.”

Craven said the fate of the eagles directly relates to humans. 

As there are more eagles on the landscape, the tribe is seeing more injuries, including lead poisoning and electrocutions from power lines. 

In addition, Craven said, “Unfortunately, we’ve seen a little bit of an increase in poaching.”

Craven said he hopes the project will expand awareness and education about eagles and their conservation.

“We see this collaboration as a nexus for exposing and helping the non-tribal community, giving them a better understanding of some tribal viewpoints in regard to management, and also some cultural awareness as well,” Craven said.

As for cultural importance, he said, “Within tribes, there are different teachings that are passed down, different views on eagles. The clans within Odawa culture each (have) a certain number of responsibilities to the community.”

Eagles represent one of many clans, which, in the Odawa community, are smaller groups with distinct responsibilities, Craven said. A clan can be the keeper of medicine, keeper of tradition or language, representation of the community and peacemaker within the community.

“Some will say that members of Eagle Clan are even-keeled, level-headed,” Craven said. “They can see far and provide good advice based on how far they can see and how broad a scope of things they take into consideration.”

Eagles are one of the highest-flying birds and are seen as a way for the Odawa or Anishinaabe peoples to pass up prayers or concerns through Migizi to the Creator.

“Eagles are viewed from flying up high in connection to the Creator,” said Craven. “Migizi is looking down on the Odawa people as well to see if you’re responsible to your family if you’re taking care of others. So, eagles can be a reminder to people to do those things.”

Meghan King reports for Great Lakes Echo.

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