“To start the day each morning with these eagles is probably the thing I’m most grateful for.”

In a pecan grove down from the North Canadian River in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Eagle Aviary cares for injured eagles and supports the relationship between Tribal citizens and one of their most important relatives. Eagles carry prayers to the creator. They can live more than 50 years in human care, which makes the aviary a generational commitment.

This story follows sisters Jennifer and Bree, who began their work with the aviary after their family received an eagle feather following their mother’s passing. Years later, they run an aviary whose nylon netting design has become the federal standard for Tribal aviaries, and which serves thousands of Tribal and non-Tribal visitors each year.

Citizen Potawatomi Nation became a Self-Governance Tribe in 1998. Their next goal is bringing the federal eagle aviary permitting process under Tribal authority, where, as the Nation puts it, it has always belonged.