Bald eagle soars off endangered list

THURSDAY, June 28, 2007

country educating young and old about the national symbol. The birds will be now protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Bald eagle populations severely declined in the lower 48 states between 1870 and 1970 because of hunting, habitat loss and the use of DDT. DDT, a powerful insecticide, made bald eagle eggshells so weak they couldn’t produce viable offspring. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announces the In 1963, there were only 417 return of the bald eagle on Thursday. breeding pairs in the lower 48.

By Peggy Mihelich “We do have 1,300 species that In a national effort to save the have been listed and our recovery iconic bird, the federal government banned the use of DDT in 1972 The bald eagle, America’s rate is about 1 percent. I would and placed the bald eagle under national symbol, is flying high like to see us have more days protection of the Endangered after spending three decades like this when we can announce Species Act, which allowed the in recovery. On Thursday, the success and victory and delisting government to protect bald eagle government took the eagle off of species.” habitat. the Endangered Species Act’s Since the 1970s, the government “threatened” list. has worked hard to save the These two key factors helped it recover, according to the Fish and “The eagle has returned,” Secretary bald eagle, which was dying off Wildlife Service. Today, there are of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne because of habitat destruction, 9,789 breeding pairs in the lower told government offi cials, wildlife illegal shooting and contamination 48 states. conservationists and journalists of its food source. at a ceremony held on the steps It was fi rst listed as endangered, Habitat protection of the Jefferson Memorial in then threatened, and now is off the Washington. But Kieran Suckling of the list entirely. Center for Biological Diversity “Today is an opportunity to Challenger, a bald eagle, also conservation group said this celebrate and draw inspiration,” attended the ceremony. Challenger victory comes at a price -- loss of Kempthorne added. is a teaching bird who travels the eagle habitat protection. The bird’s nesting grounds were One landowner ready for delisting Bald and Golden Eagle Protection protected as long as the bald eagle is Minnesota retiree Edmund Act: “To agitate or bother a bald was considered a “threatened” Contoski. or golden eagle to a degree that species. But the less restrictive causes, or is likely to cause, based eagle protection act does not put Contoski, 69, wants to build fi ve log on the best scientifi c information eagle habitats off-limits. homes on his undeveloped seven- available, 1) injury to an eagle, acre property along Lake Sullivan. 2) a decrease in its productivity, Suckling said he worries that However, the Endangered Species by substantially interfering with without habitat protection, Act has prohibited development normal breeding, feeding or developers will move into critical within 330 feet of an active bald sheltering behavior, or 3) nest bald eagle areas, push the birds out eagle’s nest on his property -- that abandonment, by substantially and reduce their numbers. covers all of Contoski’s usable interfering with normal breeding, land. “There is big money to be made in feeding or sheltering behavior.” cutting down and developing bald “Eagles don’t pay taxes; I pay The conservation organization eagle habitat,” he said. taxes,” Contoski said. “I’m paying National Wildlife Federation taxes, and I can’t do anything with called it a “solid framework” that The Bald and Golden Eagle the property.” Protection Act prohibits anyone will keep the bald eagle around without a permit from “taking” In 2005, he challenged the Fish for generations to come. Dr. bald eagles, including their parts, and Wildlife Service to make good Greg Butcher, director of bird nests and eggs. Its definition on its 1999 proposal to delist the conservation for the National of “take” includes: pursuit, bald eagle. He took the agency to Audubon Society, said he feels shooting, shooting at, poisoning, court and won. His court battle led confi dent that “good things will wounding, killing, capturing, to the June 28 delisting. happen for the bald eagle” as trapping, collecting, molesting and a result of the government’s disturbing. Future conservation actions. “For the most part, it’s a shooting The Fish and Wildlife Service Suckling said while that defi nition and hunting statute,” said Nicholas will issue voluntary guidelines for will help protect the birds, it fails Throckmorton of the U.S. Fish and landowners to protect bald eagles to protect their habitat. Wildlife Service. and permits to people who wish to evict a bald eagle from their “The definition is linked to “It does talk a little about nesting property. bothering or agitating actually and the tree that eagles are in, but present birds; it does not apply to it’s not intended to protect habitat The agency took the additional step logging the nest area when the bird or ecosystems.” of defi ning what it actually means is not present,” he explained. to “disturb” an eagle under the As part of his concern, Suckling points to Arizona, home to 43 breeding pairs. The birds nest along small rivers, which are easily affected by development, he explained. Suckling said once protection is gone, these rivers will be under severe threat. Challenger, a bald He said he’s particularly concerned eagle, attended the about growth in Prescott in central delisting ceremoney Arizona and its impact on the on the steps of Department of the Verde River, which he said could Interior. harm eagles’ nests. Kempthorne signs the document that takes the bald eagle off the threatened species list.

Suckling offered this analogy: Earlier this month, conservation “You come back from your groups filed a lawsuit asking summer vacation and someone the government to restore has trashed your property so badly Endangered Species Act that you can’t live there anymore. protections for the Yellowstone Have you been ‘disturbed’? I grizzly bear. Lack of habitat would say so, but the Fish and protection and climate change Wildlife Service defi nition says, threaten the bears’ future, says ‘No.’ “ Earthjustice, a nonprofi t public interest law fi rm representing the Paul Schmidt, the Fish and environmental groups. Wildlife Service’s assistant director for migratory birds, The Yellowstone grizzly bear told CNN.com the government was delisted in March. For more is confi dent the Bald and Golden than 30 years, it was considered Eagle Protection Act will “afford a “threatened” species. adequate protections” and the agency won’t see a decline in There are 541 animals in the populations after delisting. United States listed as threatened or endangered under the “Americans can and will coexist Endangered Species Act. Twenty with a healthy and sustainable animals have been delisted population of bald eagles,” under the act; 10 are considered Schmidt added. recovered. (Recovery is the process by which the decline Endangered species delistings of an endangered or threatened are often contentious. The species is considered arrested or proposal to delist the Northern reversed.) Rockies gray wolf worries conservationists, who argue The Endangered Species Act that without safeguards, wolf calls for fi ve years of monitoring populations will dangerously following delisting of a species. dwindle. But ranchers say that if the wolves are protected, they will over-reproduce and packs of them will attack their livestock.