Are You Thinking About Donating an Item to the Museum at Warm Springs? Here’s what you need to know.

The Museum at Warm Springs holds an impressive and renowned collection of Columbia River Plateau art.

At this time The Museum does not purchase items.

The Museum does not accept donations to the collection unless they are carefully vetted for provenance and historical connection to the Columbia River Plateau tribes. Each item must have evidence of legal ownership.

The Museum does not accept eagle feathers of other animal remains. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, passed in 1940, prohibits “pursuing, shooting, shooting at, poisoning, wounding, killing capturing, trapping, collecting, molesting, or disturbing” a bald or golden eagle. It’s is also illegal to “possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, offer to purchase or barter, transport … any bald eagle… alive, dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof.”

This means you can’t take or even move any part of a bald eagle, not even a feather already on the ground. A single violation could result in up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine. Protections include other migratory birds. For more information, see this link.

The Museum does not accept stone implements, tools or arrowheads. We recommend people leave stone implements and arrowheads in the place it was found. If you consider the items as archaeologically significant, please report it to The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Archeologist located in Natural Resources. Call (541) 553-2001.