Bald eagle making its way off endangered list
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
Hey teegate,Eagles are on the upswing my brother lives in camden county and they are all up and down the delaware in fact they are in quite a few areas that they have'nt been. I've seen a number of them myself,whew ! Magnificent birds !!!!!
its nice to see that being added to the endangered list isn't a guaranteed precursor to extinction (like its been with oh i dunno . . . every other species ever . . ), but where DDT failed habitat loss will follow through.
Bald eagles were an easy species . . . isolate the toxin (or toxins) that threaten the species and ban their use--probably the only reason they were able to come back. but habitat loss is a complicated factor . . . a nonpoint source of ecological destruction, and there's no resistance to development. people keep having lots of babies and we all need to live somewhere.
and even though they've made a comeback from the brink--it doesn't mean they've COME BACK. what was it 7,000 nesting pairs? i think the population estimates for the species (pre-human interference) was like 25,000 to 75,000 . . . the bald eagles are NOWHERE near where they should be. 14,000 breeding birds for the entire continental U.S. is still pretty pathetic. i'm glad they're doing well but i doubt my grandchildren will ever get to see one in the wild.
Bald eagles were an easy species . . . isolate the toxin (or toxins) that threaten the species and ban their use--probably the only reason they were able to come back. but habitat loss is a complicated factor . . . a nonpoint source of ecological destruction, and there's no resistance to development. people keep having lots of babies and we all need to live somewhere.
and even though they've made a comeback from the brink--it doesn't mean they've COME BACK. what was it 7,000 nesting pairs? i think the population estimates for the species (pre-human interference) was like 25,000 to 75,000 . . . the bald eagles are NOWHERE near where they should be. 14,000 breeding birds for the entire continental U.S. is still pretty pathetic. i'm glad they're doing well but i doubt my grandchildren will ever get to see one in the wild.
Bobbleton said:
Good points, Bob-
but let's remember that those figures on breeding pairs (from a few hundred now up to over 7000) are for the "lower 48" and don't include Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon (where the bald eagle's survival as a species was never endangered).
The bald's staus was upgraded from "endangered" to "threatened"in '95; this proposed "delisting" of its current "threatened" status will leave it under the continuing Federal protection of the Bald Eagle Protection Act as well as the protective statutes of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The Feds had planned all along to de-list the balds when there was reasonable evidence that the basis for a self-sustaining wild population had been reached in the lower 48.. Anyone who took part in the bald eagle recovery program - as I did in New York State in the early 80s - will likely greet this news with considerable mixed feelings. Yes, a self-sustaining population has been attained, but if delisting from "threatened" status means that the "sporting" public will gradually revert to their old practices of shooting anything with feathers after failing to fill their duck, goose, or pheasant limit for the day, more and more dead and injured balds will again start to drift into the veterinary clinic cages and rehabilitators pens as they did back in the 60s and early 70's - in spite of the BE Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The cost of keeping them listed as "threatened" (other than to commercial logging interests) is far less than will be incurred if they have to be re-listed. Sadly, de-listing will result in loss of the most stringent Federal sanctions against destruction of breeding habitat for the species. Contact your Senators and Congressional Representative; lobbyists for the logging industry are already bending their ears.
Food for thought...
Dave
uuglypher said:
I couldn't agree more that those of us who love the outdoors should be vigilant and involved. I remember the 70's and 80's, when you almost never saw an Osprey working the surf, or when the only Peregrin Falcon you could see was one hacked off a man made tower. To most New Jerseyians, a Bald Eagle was something you saw on TV shows. Now that things seem better, I worry that our current government's (national & state) commitment to protect our environment is slipping.