American Eagle Foundation

Last updated
American Eagle Foundation
AbbreviationAEF
Formation1985 [1]
TypeNGO
Legal statusNon-profit Organization
PurposeConservation, Education, and Protection of birds of prey
Headquarters Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Coordinates 35°48′32″N83°32′18″W / 35.808915°N 83.538349°W / 35.808915; -83.538349
Region served
USA
Official language
English
Executive Director
Jessica Hall [2]
Revenue (2018)
$1,388,999 [3]
Expenses (2018)$1,556,566 [3]
Website www.eagles.org
Bald eagle at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary in Dollywood theme park DollywoodBaldEagle.jpg
Bald eagle at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary in Dollywood theme park

American Eagle Foundation (AEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports the protection of the bald eagle and other birds of prey.

Contents

History

Between 1961-1983, there were no successful bald eagle nests in the state of Tennessee, and the bald eagle was still listed as an endangered species by the federal government. [4] Originally called the National Foundation to Protect America's Eagles, AEF was founded in 1985 to help conserve the bald eagle in Tennessee. [5]

In 1990, AEF entered into a multi-year corporate partnership with the Dollywood Company and cooperated with them to develop Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Eagle Mountain Sanctuary is the largest gathering of non-releasable bald eagles in the world. American Eagle Foundation also hosts the Wings of America flighted bird show for Dollywood in the Craftsman's Valley area of the Theme Park. [6]

In 2019, AEF partnered with Yuengling. This partnership included limited-edition AEF Traditional Lager cans, a Bald Eagle nest cam sponsorship, and the release of a rehabilitated eaglet. [7] This partnership with Yuengling has continued in 2022. [8]

In 2021, American Eagle Foundation broke ground on new headquarters in Kodak, Tennessee near the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. [9] The new facility, code-named "Project Eagle," is 57 acres (23.07 ha). [10] It will be equipped with an educational campus, several aviaries for resident raptors, an administrative building, and an avian research and rehabilitation center.

Conservation Efforts

AEF hosts cleanup events at waterways that may serve as bald eagle habitats. AEF has been known to partner with Keep Sevier Beautiful and Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (state affiliate for Keep America Beautiful) for such events. [11]

American Eagle Foundation's bald eagle grant program, founded in 2012, awards approximately $100,000 in funding annually for bald eagle research. Grant applications are reviewed independently of AEF by a Bald Eagle Grant Advisory Team. [12]

AEF has also partnered with Dollywood Theme Park and Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful to recycle guests' disposed cigarette butts and minimize such waste's impact on the Tennessee Watershed. [13]

Non-Releasable Raptor Residents

American Eagle Foundation cares for approximately 70 non-releasable raptors with various disabilities.

Challenger (eagle), a well-known bald eagle under AEF's care, performed free flights during the "Star Spangled Banner". Challenger has retired from free-flighted stadium events but continues to travel for other educational programs. [14]

Rehabilitation and Captive Breeding

American Eagle Foundation's bald eagle propagation program has resulted in the release of over 180 bald eaglets and 11 golden eaglets from a Hack (falconry) tower on Douglas Lake. The hack tower is also used to support orphaned juvenile raptors. With the bald eagle successfully recovered, AEF has kept their original bald eagle pairs together, but no new pairs will be formed. [15]

AEF is now home to a barn owl breeding pair to support declining barn owl populations in Tennessee. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bald eagle</span> Bird of prey species of North America

The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon Forge, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 6,343. Situated just 5 miles (8 km) north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pigeon Forge is a tourist destination that caters primarily to Southern culture and country music fans. The city's attractions include Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country as well as numerous gift shops, outlet malls, amusement rides, and musical theaters.

Barn owl Common cosmopolitan owl species

The barn owl is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific Islands. It is also known as the common barn owl, to distinguish it from the other species in its family, Tytonidae, which forms one of the two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical owls (Strigidae).

Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly 3 million guests in a typical season from mid-March to the Christmas holidays, Dollywood is the biggest ticketed tourist attraction in Tennessee. It has won many international awards.

Yuengling American brewing company

D. G. Yuengling & Son is the oldest operating brewing company in America, established in 1829. In 2018, by volume of sales, it was the largest craft brewery, sixth largest overall brewery and largest wholly American-owned brewery in the United States. Its headquarters are in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. In 2015, Yuengling produced about 2.9 million barrels, operating two Pennsylvania facilities and a brewery in Tampa, Florida.

Alaska Raptor Center Raptor rehabilitation center in the U.S. state of Alaska

The Alaska Raptor Center is a raptor rehabilitation center in Sitka in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on a 17–acre campus bordering the Tongass National Forest and the Indian River. The Mission of the Alaska Raptor Center is to promote and enhance wild populations of raptors and other avian species through rehabilitation, education and research. Although the main patients are raptors, specifically bald eagles, the center will take any bird in need of care. The Alaska Raptor Center receives between 100–200 birds a year, with many suffering from some sort of trauma. They have treated birds with injuries from electrocution, collisions, gunshot wounds, leg hold traps, starvation, disease and lead poisoning.

The Fort Worth Zoo is a zoo in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, that was founded in 1909 with one lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock and a few rabbits. The zoo now is home to 7,000 native and exotic animals and has been named as a top zoo in the nation by Family Life magazine, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, as well as one of the top zoos in the South by Southern Living Reader's Choice Awards.

Cascades Raptor Center Zoo in Oregon, United States

The Cascades Raptor Center is a nature center and wildlife hospital in Eugene, Oregon that specializes in raptor rehabilitation. As of November 2020, permanent inhabitants of the center include 37 individual birds from 21 species.

Alaksen National Wildlife Area National Wildlife Area of Canada in Delta, British Columbia

The Alaksen National Wildlife Area is located on Westham Island in the city of Delta, British Columbia. It is an important stopover point for many species of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.

The Dollywood Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Dolly Parton, with headquarters in Sevierville, Tennessee. Shortly after the opening of the Dollywood theme park in 1986, the Dollywood Foundation was created in April 1988, and began by offering scholarships to local high school students. From there it grew into the Imagination Library, started in 1995, which distributes free books to children monthly, up until the age of 5. The Dollywood Foundation grew again into the My People Fund, which started in 2016 after wildfires ripped through Tennessee. The current President of the Dollywood Company is Craig Ross. Today, the foundation continues to grant scholarships and awards, and provides support to numerous non-profit organizations that aim to improve the quality of life of children and others in need.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Challenger (eagle)</span>

Challenger is a non-releasable bald eagle in the care of the non-profit American Eagle Foundation. He is the first bald eagle in history trained to free fly over stadium events, including the World Series and U.S. Presidential Inaugurations.

The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide. The successful recovery of the peregrine falcon in the United States, which was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species List in 1999, enabled the organization to expand its mission to include other endangered raptors around the world. The Peregrine Fund is headquartered at its World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho, on a 580-acre (2.3 km2) campus with breeding and research facilities, an administrative office, interpretive center, research library, and archives.

Raptor Education Group

Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Antigo, Wisconsin, United States, dedicated to caring for injured or orphaned avian wildlife. It works with and temporarily cares for birds from endangered or threatened species "for rehabilitation and educational purposes."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HawkQuest</span> Raptor-oriented environmental education organization

HawkQuest, founded in 1986 by Kin Quitugua, is an environmental education organization based in Parker, Colorado, which uses participatory lectures including live raptors to help people "understand and appreciate the interaction of wild living things in their natural environment."

Decorah Bald Eagles American livestreaming website

The Decorah Bald Eagles is a website featuring a live-streaming webcam trained on a bald eagle nest and family in Decorah, Iowa. The Raptor Resource Project installed and runs the live stream for research purposes. It is one of more than a dozen eagle webcams across the United States.

Hollywood to Dollywood is an American documentary film that played at 60 film festivals in the U.S., Canada, Scotland, and Australia in 2011 and 2012. Directed by John Lavin, the film follows the cross-country journey of identical twins Gary and Larry Lane to deliver to Dolly Parton a screenplay they wrote, which includes a role for her. Hollywood to Dollywood has won 24 film festival awards and includes 17 Parton songs, two of which were previously unreleased. The film had a one-week theatrical release in New York beginning August 31, 2012, followed a week later in Los Angeles.

Juneau Raptor Center

The Juneau Raptor Center (JRC) is a raptor rehabilitation center in Juneau in the U.S. state of Alaska. Founded in 1987 and located in the Tongass National Forest, its mission is the rehabilitation of sick and injured eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, ravens, hummingbirds and other avian wildlife brought in from Juneau and Southeast Alaska. The JRC is licensed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to handle eagles and migratory birds, and is governed in part by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

The Southwest Florida Eagle Cam is a website featuring live streaming webcams trained on a bald eagle nest, which sits 60 feet above the ground, in a Slash Pine tree in North Fort Myers, Florida. The live streaming website shows the parent eagles and their family as they build and restore the nest, mate, lay eggs, and challenge the natural elements and predators in the area. The site launched with one camera in September 2012. It is one of more than a dozen eagle webcams across America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Islands State Birding Park</span> State park in Tennessee, United States

Seven Islands State Birding Park is a state park in Knox County, Tennessee located east of Knoxville near Kodak along the French Broad River. The park was created for birdwatching. The diverse grassland landscapes and the river create a habitat for more than 180 species of birds.

Living Coast Discovery Center Nature center, aquarium and zoo in Chula Vista, California

The Living Coast Discovery Center is an environmental education center with marine animal, animal and bird exhibits located in the Sweetwater Marsh Unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in Chula Vista, California. Permanent displays at the Living Coast focus on native animals and plants found in Southern California and San Diego Bay.

References

  1. "About the American Eagle Foundation" Eagles.org. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  2. "Our AEF Family" Eagles.org. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "American Eagle Foundation" (PDF). American Eagle Foundation. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. "Bald Eagles in Tennessee" TN.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  5. "American Eagle Foundation History" Eagles.org. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  6. "Behind the Scenes with American Eagle Foundation at Dollywood" Dollywood Insiders. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  7. "Yuengling Partners with American Eagle Foundation to Protect U.S. National Symbol" Cision PR Newswire. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  8. "Yuengling and American Eagle Foundation continue Partnership to Protect Iconic U.S. Symbol" Yuengling.com. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  9. "American Eagle Day 2020" Eagles.org. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  10. "American Eagle Foundation to build new research and rehab facility in Kodak" WBIR.com. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  11. "American Eagle Foundation Launches Nationwide Clean-up Effort" Businesswire.com. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  12. "The AEF Bald Eagle Grant Program" eagles.org. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  13. "Dollywood Partners with Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful to Recycle Plastic from Collected Cigarette Butts" keeptnriverbeautiful.org. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  14. "Challenger the Bald Eagle Retires" tn.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  15. "Captive Eagle Breeding" eagles.org. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  16. "Barn Owl" tn.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2022.

Coordinates: 35°48′32″N83°32′18″W / 35.808915°N 83.538349°W / 35.808915; -83.538349