BALD EAGLES ON MILITARY BASES FREEDOM

NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, WA ■ AIR FORCE 36 Rock Island Arsenal Working with Washington State’s Department of Fish & Rock Island, IL Wildlife and local Audubon Society volunteers, base 1 Avon Park Air Force Range 37 Rocky Mountain Arsenal SOARS biologists studied eagle movements and behavior for 18 Avon Park, FL SOARS Commerce City, CO months. Some eagles were fitted with backpacks carrying 2 Barksdale Air Force Base 38 Savanna Army Depot satellite transmitters that gave biologists very accurate NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER CRANE, IN Shreveport, LA DEFENDING OUR NATION AND In 1984, one of the first six eagle pairs to nest Savanna, IL information about where the eagles went, while other 3 Cannon Air Force Base successfully in the state of Indiana settled at the 39 Truman Training Site eagles were tracked with color coded and numbered leg Clovis, NM OUR ENVIRONMENT Navy’s base in Crane, IN. By 1993, eagles were Clinton, MO bands. The information has helped the base better protect 4 Goldwater Air Force Range successfully producing eaglets on the base. To 40 Utah Army National Guard important nesting, roosting, and foraging habitats. Gila Bend, AZ aid recovery, the Navy established buffer zones ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD Draper, UT around eagle nests, posted signs making nest This gunnery testing range for the 5 Holloman Air Force Base The Department of Defense (DoD) is steward of 41 West Point Military Academy Alamagordo, NM areas off-limits to people, and built man-made Army offers 75,000 acres of woods, West Point, NY approximately 25 million acres of public lands. These nesting platforms to provide nesting “trees”. marshes, and streams, making it one 6 MacDill Air Force Base 8 42 White Sands Missile Range 11 5 of the most hospitable habitats for Tampa, FL 15 9 eagles on the East Coast. Twenty Las Cruces, NM air, land, and water resources directly support DoD’s 7 10 7 Moody Air Force Base 43 Yakima Training Center 6 6 years ago, there were virtually no Valdosta, GA 26 2 military training and readiness capabilities. They also eagles here. Today, there are over Yakima, WA 43 150 birds and 23 nests on the base ◆ ARMY harbor pristine habitats for a wide variety of unique and adjacent Susquehanna ▲ MARINE CORPS River estuary. 1 Aberdeen Proving Ground 1 Marine Corps Base Camp Aberdeen, MD species, including over 200 threatened and endangered Lejeune, Jacksonville, NC 9 10 2 Adelphi Army Research Labs 2 Marine Corps Base Quantico plants and animals, as well as a wealth of opportuni- Hyattsville, MD plants and animals, as well as a wealth of opportuni- Dumfries, VA 5 3 Camp Blanding, Starke, FL ties for recreational and other renewable uses. 3 Marine Corps Recruit Depot 4 Camp Crowder, Neosho, MO Parris Island, Beaufort, SC 27 5 Camp Grayling, Grayling, MI 41 The bald eagle is a premier example of what our 6 Camp Murray, Tacoma, WA ● NAVY 38 7 Camp Navajo, Flagstaff, AZ 8 1 AFETA Camp Peary military does to protect wildlife. By restoring and 8 , Port Clinton, OH Williamsburg, VA 36 40 13 9 Camp Rilea, Warrenton, OR creating habitat for eagles, building platforms for 1 2 David Taylor Research Center 2 14 10 Camp Ripley, Little Falls, MN Bayview, ID 33 4 11 Camp Roberts, Paso Robles, CA 3 Key West nests, establishing protection zones around nests, 37 32 2 23 12 Key West, FL 17 29 12 12 Fort A.P. Hill, Bowling Green, VA 1 17 13 31 4 Naval Air Station Patuxent River and monitoring bald eagle movements, military 28 24 18 13 , Lorton, VA 21 39 22 11 Lexington Park, MD 34 14 Fort Benning, Columbus, GA installations around the country have provided a 25 5 Naval Air Station Whidbey installations around the country have provided a 15 Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX 16 4 Island, Oak Harbor, WA healthy and safe environment so these magnificent 16 Fort Campbell, Oak Grove, KY healthy and safe environment so these magnificent 1 6 Naval Fuel Depot Manchester 17 Fort Carson Manchester, WA 7 Colorado Springs, CO flyers can flourish. By helping the eagle soar again, 35 7 Naval Hospital Bremerton 18 , Newport News, VA 3 Bremerton, WA our military has demonstrated their ability to protect 19 16 Fort Gordon, Augusta, GA 4 19 8 Naval Magazine Indian Island 20 Fort Hood, Killeen, TX Port Hadlock, WA native wildlife while defending our nation. In the 3 42 5 14 30 21 Fort Hunter Liggett, 9 Naval Radio Station Jim Creek 2 military’s eyes, there are many ways to let freedom 15 King City, CA Arlington, WA 7 22 Fort Knox, Radcliff, KY 10 Naval Station Everett 20 23 Fort Leavenworth Everett, WA soar, and conservation of our natural heritage is 3 Leavenworth, KS 11 Naval Submarine Base Bangor just one of them! 24 , Petersburg, VA Silverdale, WA 25 Fort Leonard Wood 12 Naval Surface Warfare Center FORT RILEY, KS 6 1 Crane, Loogootee, IN Fort Riley conserves bald eagle winter habitat Waynesville, MO To learn more about our nation’s symbol, you can 13 Naval Surface Warfare To learn more about our nation’s symbol, you can and controls human intrusion into areas where 26 Fort Lewis, Lacey, WA Center Dahlgren eagles live. Results are dramatic. In 1994, 27 Fort McCoy, Sparta, WI visit the following websites: Defense Environmental Colonial Beach, VA a one-day eagle count totaled 64 birds. 28 , Blackstone, VA By 1999, that number had increased to 388! 14 Naval Surface Warfare Network and Information Exchange (DENIX) at 3 29 Fort Riley, Junction City, KS Center Indian Head 30 Fort Stewart, Glennville, GA Indian Head, MD http://www.denix.osd.mil, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife 15 Naval Undersea Warfare MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC 31 Ike Skelton Training Area Station Keyport BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, LA Signs of bald eagle recovery continue. Camp Jefferson City, MO Service’s Endangered Species Program Welcome Page Silverdale, WA A pair of bald eagles has returned Lejeune discovered its first bald eagle nest 32 Macon Training Site, Macon, MO 16 Naval Weapons Station at http://endangered.fws.gov. to Barksdale for the past 15 years. on base in spring 2000 after years of watching 33 Newport Chemical Depot To encourage the return of bald the occasional eagle fly by. Newport, IN Charleston, Goose Creek, SC eagles, the base removes aquatic 34 Pinyon Canyon Maneuver 17 Naval Weapons Station weeds and stocks fish in Flag Lake. Site, La Junta, CO Yorktown, Yorktown, VA 35 Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, AL

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Congress passes the Fewer than 500 The bald eagle is A strengthened Bald eagle pairs now Bald eagle pairs Bald eagle Recovery goals The bald eagle Delisting Bald Eagle Protection pairs of bald declared an endan- Endangered Species number over 1100 in the triple since 1981 to downlisted surpassed! Over reaches fully- efforts Act making it illegal eagles reside gered species in Act passes. The lower 48 states, a huge over 3300 pairs. to threatened 5700 bald eagle recovered status, underway. to kill, harass, possess in the lower the southern half of number of bald increase. status throughout pairs are in the leading to a (without a permit) 48 states. the United States. eagle pairs rises to the continental lower 48 states. proposal to Even when or sell bald eagles. almost 800 by 1974. United States. remove it from delisted, the Bald eagle popula- The bald eagle is listed as a threatened the Federal bald eagle and tions are healthy Bald eagles mate for species in Michigan, Minnesota, endangered its habitat will

▲ In 1782, Congress in Alaska and do life and often return Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, species list. still be protect- selects the bald eagle not exist in Hawaii. to their huge nests and as endangered for the rest of the ed under the continental United States. as the nation’s symbol. JOE ONDEK year after year. Bald Eagle Great fishers, eagles Protection Act. North America is The insecticide DDT is banned. Bald eagles usually lay 2 to 3 eggs each nest near water for a the only continent year which hatch in about 35 days. constant food source. that has bald eagles. Eagles feeding on fish Eaglets fly within 3 months. JOE ONDEK contaminated by DDT Adults can grow to produced weak-shelled 3 feet tall and have eggs that cracked, broke, an 8 foot wingspan. Eagle nests can be as or failed to hatch. big as 10 feet across and can weigh as

much as 2000 lbs. JOE ONDEK