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Wisconsin eagles have helped in national recovery of the species
Release Date: 3/2/2006
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MADISON – With federal wildlife officials announcing earlier this month that they are reviving an effort to remove the bald eagle from the national endangered and threatened species list, state residents can take some satisfaction in knowing Wisconsin eagles have played a significant role in helping the species recover nationwide.

Since 1975, Wisconsin has sent 215 baby eagles, called eaglets, to 10 other states to help boost the national eagle population. Wisconsin eagles have been released near the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. and in a Hudson River valley park in New York City.

“Eagle chicks are only taken from Wisconsin nests that produced two or more eaglets. At least one healthy eaglet is always left in a nest for the parents to raise,” says Pat Manthey, an avian ecologist with the Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Endangered Resources.

Wisconsin has one of the largest eagle populations in the continental United States, with more than 1,000 pairs nesting in the state in 2005. In addition to Washington D.C. and New York, Wisconsin eagles have been sent to Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Ohio, according to Randy Jurewicz, an endangered resources biologist who has coordinated the eagle relocation efforts.

In their new home, the eaglets are generally raised in small tree-house-like dwellings called hack boxes where they are isolated from human contact and are fed through chutes so they do not associate food with people. They are fed until they are old enough to fledge, or fly from the nest.

Manthey says survival of the transplanted eagles appears to be generally the same as it is for eaglets left in nests.

Wisconsin and federal officials worked with the Earth Conservation Corps of Washington D.C. on efforts to re-establish nesting bald eagles near the nation’s capital. The organization re-introduced 16 Wisconsin eaglets over a four-year period to the Anacostia Islands Nature Preserve on the Anacostia River, and a pair has now established a nesting site in the preserve.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Feb. 13 that it would revive efforts to remove the bald eagle from the federal list of endangered and threatened species. The number of breeding pairs nationwide is currently estimated at 7,066, with the birds thriving in 49 states (bald eagles are not indigenous to Hawaii).

“The recovery of the bald eagle, our national symbol, is also a great national success story,” agency director H. Dale Hall said in a statement.

When the first Europeans arrived in North America, an estimated 100,000 pairs of bald eagles populated the area that is now the lower 48 states. Bald eagles bred throughout Wisconsin until the 1800s, when their population began to decline as the state was settled. By 1963 the number of eagles nationwide had dropped to 417 pairs, and the number of bald eagles breeding in Wisconsin reached an all time low of just 82 pairs in 1970.

The decline in eagle numbers was the result of widespread use of the eggshell-thinning insecticide DDT and development in bird breeding areas.

The bald eagle received federal protection in 1967 under the federal law preceding the current Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1972, bald eagles were placed on the Wisconsin Endangered Species List. The same year, the federal government banned the use of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides in the U.S. But eagle populations were slow to recover.

In 1986, a DNR Bald Eagle Recovery Plan was approved by the state Natural Resources Board, with the objective of increasing the self-sustaining population of bald eagles in Wisconsin to 360 breeding pairs by the year 2000.

The recovery goal was exceeded in 1991, when 414 active pairs were located. The eagle’s state status was upgraded to “threatened” in 1989, and in 1997 they were removed from the state’s endangered and threatened list. They remained listed as a threatened species in Wisconsin under federal rules.

Bald eagle recovery efforts in Wisconsin have been funded through programs such as the “Adopt an Eagle Nest Program,” under which people, clubs or schools can adopt an eagle nest in Wisconsin. They receive bald eagle information along with an update on nesting success. Other efforts to protect endangered, threatened and non-game species are funded through the state Endangered Resources Fund, which people can contribute to through the checkoff on state income tax forms or through the purchase of Endangered Resources license plates.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting comments on the proposal to remove the bald eagle from the federal Endangered Species List through May 17, 2006. Information on submitting comments can be found on the agency’s Web site at .

Even though bald eagles will now be removed from both state and federal endangered and threatened species lists, they will continue to be protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, both of which prohibit killing, selling or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs to assure they remain a majestic addition to the national landscape for generations to come.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Manthey - (608) 789-5651 or Randy Jurewicz - (608) 267-7507


Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources



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