U.S. Will Take Bald Eagle Off Endangered List

The American bald eagle, the majestic bird of prey that is a national symbol, will be removed from the list of 255 animal species hovering at the brink of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will announce today.

The decision, which will be celebrated with the release of a captive-bred eagle named Hope on Maryland’s eastern shore, marks a milestone in the recent history of a species whose population fell to about 800 birds in the Lower 48 in 1963. Overcoming pesticide and lead poisoning and the progressive loss of treetop aeries to human development, that population has increased more than tenfold.

Clinton Administration officials and conservationists said the proposed change in status represents a pivotal success not only for the eagle but for the 1973 Endangered Species Act, the controversial cornerstone of environmental legislation. The act is expected to draw heavy fire next year when Congress considers its reauthorization.

“The bald eagle is now the symbol not only of our country but of the vitality of the Endangered Species Act,” said G. Jon Roush, president of the Wilderness Society.

Under the change, the bald eagle will be moved from the list of species considered to be “endangered” to the list of those deemed to be in slightly less peril--the list of “threatened” species. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s recommendation will become final after 90 days.

The improved status will apply in all areas of the nation but the Southwest, which is defined as including Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, Oklahoma and a very small part of southeast California. There, populations of eagles have risen to 29 nesting pairs--from a low of 11 in 1979. But officials said the status of the eagle cannot be upgraded in that area because the bird remains vulnerable to the ravages of harsh weather and human activities.

Elsewhere in the Lower 48, the Fish and Wildlife Service said, the bald eagle’s removal from the list of endangered species is justified because the bird has rebounded to recovery levels established in 1975.

Critics of the Endangered Species Act have argued that the Interior Department, under the leadership of Secretary Bruce Babbitt, is reluctant to remove any species from the protected lists. Just five species, including most recently the California gray whale, have been removed from the endangered or threatened lists because their populations have been judged to have recovered.

Three other animals--the American alligator, the Aleutian Canada goose and the Arctic peregrine falcon--have been moved from the endangered list to the threatened category.

In fact, however, the “downlisting” of the bald eagle would have little real effect on its federal protection. The move means that the Interior Department will have greater latitude in allowing the use of individual birds for educational or scientific purposes. But federally funded and permitted projects still will have to be designed in ways that ensure that the eagle and its habitat are protected from harm.

At the same time, landowners would still be barred from interfering with or cutting any tree on their property if a pair of eagles is nesting in the tree’s boughs. Such federal prohibitions on use of private property have become a rallying point for many opponents of the Endangered Species Act.

The American bald eagle is by far the nation’s most protected bird, enjoying special status under four other federal laws in addition to the Endangered Species Act. But while the other laws were more narrowly drawn, the Endangered Species Act provided more sweeping protection for the eagle’s habitat and prompted other steps that are credited with saving the eagle from extinction.

The act, which provides criminal penalties for those who would harm or harass a protected animal, is credited with reducing the shooting of eagles, which was widespread into the late 1960s larely because ranchers feared that the bird would attack their livestock.

The act similarly prompted the federal government’s decision to ban the pesticide DDT. The chemical, which was sprayed on crops and neighborhoods as late as the early 1970s, caused the eggs of many birds, including the bald eagle, to become thin and break, and scientists concluded that its widespread use had accelerated the decline of the bald eagle and other bird populations.

It had a particularly dramatic effect on so-called top predators like the eagle, which were not exposed to the chemical directly but consumed great concentrations of it through its diet of fish and small mammals that had been contaminated.

More recently, the Endangered Species Act moved officials to ban the use of lead in gunshot. The heavy metal was found to cause abnormalities in eagle populations, which consumed it through its prey.

Protections for the eagle, which biologists call an example of “charismatic mega-fauna,” have been widely supported by Americans who do not share Benjamin Franklin’s characterization of the national symbol as “a bird of bad moral character” that does not “get his living honestly.” (Franklin favored the turkey as the national bird.)

Officials responsible for carrying out the requirements of the Endangered Species Act praised the law’s effectiveness in saving the eagle and defended its aims, which have come under attack in recent months by many congressional critics.

“The pollution that threatened the bald eagle was a threat not only to the nation’s symbol but to the nation itself,” said Mollie Beattie, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. “People need to understand that when species become endangered, it is a signal that our environment and our own health are at risk.”

Soaring Again

The stately bald eagle--which only appears bald from a distance because its head is covered by white feathers--is rebounding and is about to be removed from the endangered species list.

* Adult nesting eagles in Lower 48 states

Early ‘70s: 800

Today: 8,000

* Wingspan: 7 feet

* Life span: 20-30 years

* Diet: A timid hunter, he bald eagle feeds mainly on fish and dead animals

” People need to understand that when species become endangered, it is a signal that our environment and our own health are at risk.”

-- Mollie Beattle, director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service