Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press Note: below
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Interior Department is expected to announce today a proposal to upgrade the status of the eagle from endangered to threatened, a major milestone in the bird's recovery, according to government officials and environmentalists.
The proposal is expected to become final after a 90-day comment period.
The recovery of the bald eagle is ``the best news so far this year on the environmental front,'' the National Wildlife Federation said Wednesday in anticipation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service action.
``It's something we can be proud to celebrate on Independence Day,'' said Jay Hair, the federation's president.
Michael Bean, an expert on the eagle for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the recovery marks a victory for the Endangered Species Act, which has been under increasing attack in Congress and elsewhere.
The majestic eagle was on the edge of extinction in the early 1970s, when its numbers declined to fewer than 800 adult nesting birds in the lower 48 states. Today there are nearly 8,000 adult birds in those states.
Interior officials have hinted for more than a year that the bald eagle, which was designated the national symbol in 1782, would soon be removed from the endangered category, although it will remain protected under other federal laws and as a ``threatened'' species.
According to environmentalists and federal officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Fish and Wildlife Service will ``downlist'' the eagle to threatened in all but three of the lower 48 states.
The bird will remain endangered in Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas, where dry conditions have kept eagle populations from growing as well as had been hoped.
Some wildlife experts expressed concern, however, that the government may be moving prematurely, at least in some parts of the country.
``The bald eagle population in the Chesapeake Bay is still very fragile,'' warned James Frazer, a professor of wildlife science at Virginia Tech, who has studied the eagle recovery in the East.
The Chesapeake Bay area has the largest eagle population in the East with more than 300 nesting pairs, said Frazer, adding that it continues to be threatened by development.
``Eagles need trees along the water's edge. ... [but] the shoreline along the Chesapeake Bay is being developed like crazy,'' he said.
Ed Clark, director of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, agreed that regardless of federal lists, habitat protection remains the key factor in the eagle's recovery, especially in the bay area, where an additional 3 million people are predicted to move over the next couple of decades.
"Many of those people want to live on the water. So does the eagle. The eagle doesn't get to vote," Clark said.
While the upgrade in the raptor's status is an important milestone, Clark said, the reclassification could be misinterpreted and misrepresented by those who would weaken the Endangered Species Law, which not only gives legal protection to such species, but also plays an important role in public education.
Clark said that he has seen fewer bald eagles with gunshot wounds at the rehabilitation center in the Shenandoah Valley over the years, even as the population has increased.
As threatened, the eagle and its habitat will continue to be protected under federal law, but the new designation could give private landowners more flexibility in developing land where eagles have nests, environmentalists said.
Despite its majesty and historic significance, the eagle has had its enemies over the years. It was the frequent target of hunters in the early 1960s, often was electrocuted when nesting on power lines, and was victimized by the growing pollution from pesticides - especially DDT - that made their way into waterways and into fish, the primary food for eagles.
\ Staff writer Cathryn McCue contributed information to this report.
by CNB