CONSERVATION CORNER

Bald Eagle Recovering

by James L. Cummins

The bald eagle, America's symbol and most treasured species, was in danger of disappearing from the American landscape approximately 40 years ago. It has made such a dramatic recovery that only two states do not have breeding pairs of the 7,678 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states. This population is up from fewer than 500 pairs four decades ago. Due to this recovery, the eagle is likely to be removed from the list of threatened species by the end of this year.

"As a lot of people have recognized, the bird's numbers are terrific," said David Smith, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Department of the Interior. "If the numbers bear out," Mr. Smith added, "we hope to get to final delisting by the end of the year." The tentative decision, likely to go into effect more than five years after it was first proposed by the Department of Interior, is being hailed by some environmentalists as a tribute to the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act, although some biologists have expressed concern that the expansion of subdivisions and summer homes will deprive the burgeoning eagle population of nesting sites.

"The driving force behind the eagle's strong recovery was "the banning of DDT and PCB's and the protection that the Endangered Species Act did give to the habitat, which allowed the birds to come back and to repopulate some of their historic areas," said Bruce E. Beans, the author of "Eagle's Plume: The Struggle to Preserve the Life and Haunts of America's Bald Eagle" (University of Nebraska Press, 1997).

A separate, current law protecting bald and golden eagles should provide more than adequate protection to warrant taking away the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

Michael J. Bean of Environmental Defense, which recently requested that the Department of Interior delist the eagle, welcomed the decision, saying: "It has clearly recovered. Its recovery needs to be recognized with a delisting. Second, there is a pervasive sense that the Endangered Species Act has failed because so few have been taken off the list. The eagle has clearly recovered. It's an enormous success. Taking it off the list will drive that point home."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists 1,288 species as endangered or threatened. Since the act was passed in 1973, 30 species have been removed from the list. Of these, 13 have been recovered. The bald eagle will remain protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, originally passed in 1940. It prohibits pursuing, shooting or shooting at, wounding or killing, poisoning, trapping, molesting or disturbing eagles.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi. Their web site is www.wildlifemiss.org.