Questions and Answers about Bald Eagles Recovery and Delisting
What action did the Service take?
The Service made a final decision to remove the bald eagle from the list of threatened and endangered species. After 40 years of conservation efforts, eagle populations rebounded and no longer need Endangered Species Act protection.
What was the population of the bald eagles at the time of delisting?
Bald eagles staged a remarkable recovery from the brink of extinction. According to the 2007 population surveys, the eagle population in the lower 48 states climbed from an all-time low of 417 nesting pairs in 1963 to an estimated 9,789 breeding pairs by 2007, when the bald eagle was delisted.
At the time of delisting, Minnesota topped the list with 1,312 pairs of eagles, followed by Florida with 1,133 pairs and Wisconsin’s 1,065 pairs. Bald eagles also were breeding in the District of Columbia and Vermont, which, until its first eagles hatched successfully in 2006, was the only state in the contiguous U.S. that did not support nesting eagles.
When did the bald eagle first gain federal protection?
The bald eagle first gained federal protection in 1940 when Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act. It was later amended to include golden eagles and renamed the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
The taxonomic family that includes bald eagles gained protection by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1972 when the United States and Mexico agreed to a supplement to the migratory bird convention they first signed in 1936. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is the law that implements treaties for the protection of shared migratory bird resources signed by the United States with Canada, Japan, Mexico and Russia.
Bald eagles were listed as an endangered species in 1967 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act and later transferred to list of threatened and endangered species under the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
What has contributed to the recovery of the bald eagle in the lower 48 states?
The recovery of the bald eagle was a national effort. Two important factors made the recovery of the bald eagle possible, the most critical being the federal government’s ban on the use of DDT in the United States in 1972. Second, the eagle was added to the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, which reduced threats to bald eagle habitat, including nesting sites and summer and winter roost sites. In addition, federal and state agencies, tribes, private landowners and others played a vital role in restoring populations by protecting important habitat, reintroducing the bald eagle back into the wild, monitoring species recovery and conducting extensive public education efforts.
Did the Service have a recovery plan for the bald eagle?
Yes, the bald eagle population in the lower 48 states was divided into five recovery regions, making it easier for the Service to monitor the recovery progress of the eagle. Those regions were the Northern States, Chesapeake Bay, Southeastern, Southwestern and the Pacific Regions. Five separate recovery plans were developed, one for each region.
Since the development and implementation of the recovery plans, the bald eagle’s population growth exceeded most of the goals established in the various plans. Population goals were met and exceeded in the Chesapeake Bay, Northern, Pacific, and Southeastern Recovery Regions. The Southwest recovery plan included goals for downlisting, but not delisting.
||2007 Estimate of Breeding Pairs
||1,500 breeding areas
||1,200 breeding areas
|Total 3900 pairs + Southwest 9,789 breeding pairs
How does the Service determine if a species has recovered?
The criteria spelled out in the recovery plans are used as a yardstick to measure whether the species is no longer endangered or threatened. But those factors are not the only criteria. The ESA identifies five threats that the Service must evaluate to determine if delisting is appropriate:
1. The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of the species habitat or range;
2. The over-use of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;
3. Disease or predation;
4. The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; and
5. Any other natural or manmade factors affecting the continued existence of the species.
The Service determines whether recovery has been achieved by reviewing the best available scientific and commercial data available in evaluating the above threats to the species. Recovery plans may set population goals as a measure to indicate whether the threats have been reduced. The Service considers these goals in determining whether the threats have been reduced sufficiently to warrant reclassification of the species, or in this case, delisting.
A species is recovered when it is no longer in danger of extinction, or likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range because the threats that led to the species’ listing have been reduced or eliminated. The bald eagle has met these requirements for removal from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife.
How will we know that the bald eagle population will not decline without the protections of the Endangered Species Act?
Concurrently with the delisting, the Service made a draft post-delisting monitoring plan available and solicited public comment for 90 days.
As required by the Endangered Species Act, the Service will effectively monitor the species in cooperation with the states for a minimum of five years after delisting. The post-delisting monitoring plan provides a solid framework for surveying eagles and documenting eagle success after delisting. The monitoring plan is designed to track the population status of bald eagles in the lower 48 by sampling the number of breeding pairs, similar to the current monitoring methods. The monitoring plan is not intended to monitor causal factors such as circumstances that “disturb” bald eagles or their habitat, a term defined under Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
If, within the designated monitoring period, threats to bald eagles change or unforeseen events change the stability of the population, then it may be relisted under the ESA or the monitoring period may be extended.
How will bald eagles be monitored after they are taken off the list of threatened and endangered species?
The Bald Eagle Post Delisting Monitoring Plan describes are eagles will be monitored. Based on the Plan, the status of the bald eagle will be monitored by
collecting data on occupied nests over a 20-year period with sampling events held once
every 5 years starting in early 2009. Nest check monitoring conducted by the States over the past years will continue and census of area sample plots will be added.
The area sample plots will be selected from eagle habitat across the contiguous 48 States
based on known nesting density. The set of known occupied nests (list frame) will be
combined with the numbers of newly identified occupied nests from the area plot samples
(area frame) to provide a dual frame estimate
The goal is to be able to detect a 25 percent change in occupied bald eagle nests on a national scale at 5 year intervals. If declines are detected, the Service’s Bald Eagle Monitoring Team will work with the state agencies to investigate the cause of decline. Factors to be considered include natural population cycles, weather, productivity, contaminants, habitat changes and other stressors. The result of the investigation will determine if the population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states warrants expanded monitoring, additional research, and/or resumption of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. At the end of the 20 year monitoring program, the Service will conduct a final review.
In addition, information provided to the Bald Eagle Monitoring Team will be reviewed for potential population level impacts such as productivity, mortality, major habitat alterations, contaminants, and weather.
What other laws protect bald eagles?
Bald eagles are protected by two other major federal laws: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In addition, state governments can enact state laws that afford more protection than federal laws to conserve wildlife species. Bald eagles may be protected by a state law such as a state endangered species law. Please contact your state fish and wildlife agency to see if your state has laws or management guidelines applicable to eagles. Please see <http://www.fws.gov/offices/statelinks.html> for state or territorial wildlife agencies’ contact information.
What are the protections provided by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act?
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it is illegal to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, possess, sell, barter, purchase, export, or import migratory birds, their parts, nests or eggs, except as permitted by regulation. “Take” is defined under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act as “pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, possess, or collect.”
How does the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act protect bald eagles?
The Eagle Act, originally passed in 1940, prohibits the take, possession, sale, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase, or barter, transport, export or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless allowed by permit (16U.S.C 668(a); 50 CFR 22). “Take” is defined as “pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb” a bald or golden eagle. The term “disturb” under the Eagle Act was recently defined via a final rule published in the Federal Register on June 5, 2007 (72 Fed. Reg. 31332). “Disturb” means to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, 1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior.
After the Bald Eagle was delisted, new Eagle Act regulations were adopted that allow the Service to issue permits for non-intential take. Information about the permits in the Midwest under the Eagle Act is available at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/midwestbird/EaglePermits/index.html.
Are inactive eagle nests protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act?
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act prohibits take of any eagle nest, whether active or inactive. However, after several years of inactivity, nests that are not maintained by eagles may eventually disintegrate into a pile of sticks and debris that would not be protected under the Eagle Act.
How long does it take to consider a nest abandoned so that the National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines no longer apply?
The likelihood that an alternate nest will again become active decreases the longer it goes unused. If you plan activities in the vicinity of an alternate bald eagle nest and have sufficient documentation to establish that the nest has not been active during the preceding five breeding seasons, the recommendations provided in these guidelines for avoiding disturbance around the nest site may no longer be warranted. The nest itself remains protected by other provisions of the Eagle Act, however, and may not be destroyed.
If I am planning a project near a bald eagle nest site, do I have to consult with the Service?
We encourage you to review information on the Eagle Permits website at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/midwestbird/EaglePermits/index.html. If you have questions please contact the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Eagle Biologist closest to your proposed project site for technical assistance. Contact information can be found at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/midwestbird/EaglePermits/contactus.html.
What are the penalties associated with violating the two laws that now protect eagles?
Under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits take and sale, the first criminal offense is a misdemeanor with maximum penalty of one year in prison and $100,000 fine for an individual ($200,000 for an organization). The second offense becomes a felony with maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and $250,000 fine for individual ($500,000 for an “organization” such as a business). The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act also provides for maximum civil penalties of $5,000 for each violation.
Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits take and sale of listed birds including eagles, take alone is a misdemeanor violation with maximum penalty of six months in prison and $15,000 fine, and commercialization is a felony violation with a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and $250,000 fine ($500,000 for an organization).
When the eagle was protected under the Endangered Species Act, the maximum penalty for a person who knowingly killed or sold a bald eagle in interstate commerce was 1 year in prison and $100,000 fine ($200,000 for an organization). The Endangered Species Act also provided maximum civil penalties of up to $25,000 for each violation.
How has Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act been used to convict recent violators?
A West Virginia man was convicted in federal court for killing a bald eagle and sentenced to serve six days in federal prison, 11 months and 26 days of home confinement, and five years supervised probation; he must also forfeit the rifle used to kill the eagle and pay $3,301 in jail and court fees.
In September 2005, a Florida land development company responsible for the destruction of an eagle nest tree on property where it was building a housing development in Collier County, Florida, pleaded guilty to violating Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and was fined $356,125 – one of the largest penalties ever assessed under this statute. An individual associated with the company also pleaded guilty to violating the BGEPA and was sentenced in April 2006 to a $5,000 fine and three years on probation.
In January 2005, two defendants who cut down a tree containing a bald eagle nest in Sarasota County, Florida, pleaded guilty to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. One defendant was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and contribute $80,000 in restitution ($40,000 to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey and $40,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Florida Bald Eagle Conservation Fund). The other was fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit the chainsaw used to commit the crime.
Are there remaining threats to the bald eagle?
The bald eagle has made a dramatic resurgence from the brink of extinction. The banning of DDT, coupled with the cooperative conservation efforts of the Service, states wildlife agencies, other federal agencies, non-government organizations, and individuals, have all contributed to the recovery of our national symbol. Although some threats, such as contaminants or habitat loss may occur on a localized basis, the Service has determined that none of the existing or potential threats, either alone or in combination with others, are likely to cause the bald eagle to become in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all or any significant portion of its range.
Are there more things I can do to help protect bald eagles?
1. Protect and preserve communal roost sites, potential nest sites, and important foraging areas. Retain mature trees and old growth stands wherever possible, particularly within ½ mile from water.
2. Avoid potentially disruptive activities and development in the eagles’ direct flight path between their nest and roost sites and important foraging areas.
3. Locate long-term and permanent water-dependent facilities away from important eagle foraging areas.
4. Avoid recreational and commercial boating and fishing near eagle foraging areas during peak feeding times (usually early to mid morning and late afternoon), except where eagles have demonstrated tolerance to such activity.
5. Do not use explosives within ½ mile (or within 1 mile in open areas) of communal roosts when eagles are congregating, without prior coordination with the Service and your state wildlife agency.
6. Locate aircraft corridors no closer than 1,000 feet vertical or horizontal distance from communal roost sites.
7. Use pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other chemicals only in accordance with federal and state laws and labeled instructions for their use.
8. Identify and monitor contaminants associated with hazardous waste sites (legal or illegal), permitted releases, and runoff from agricultural areas, especially within watersheds where eagles have shown poor reproduction or where bioaccumulating contaminants have been documented. These factors present a risk of contamination to eagles and their food sources.
9. Where nests are blown from trees during storms or are otherwise destroyed by the elements, continue to protect the site in the absence of the nest for up to three (3) complete breeding seasons. Many eagles will rebuild the nest and reoccupy the site.
10. Site wind turbines and high voltage transmission power lines away from bald eagle communal roost sites to avoid collisions, where feasible. Bury utility lines along forested shorelines and roadways in new development projects.
11. Employ industry-accepted measures to prevent birds from being electrocuted on towers and poles.
12. Where bald eagles are likely to nest in human-made structures (e.g. cell phone towers) and such use could impede operation or maintenance of the structures or jeopardize the safety of the eagles, equip the structures with either (1) devices engineered to discourage bald eagles from building nests, or (2) nesting platforms that will safely accommodate bald eagle nests without interfering with structure performance.
13. Immediately cover carcasses of euthanized animals at landfills to protect eagles from being poisoned.
14. Do not intentionally feed bald eagles. Artificially feeding bald eagles can disrupt their essential behavioral patterns and put them at increased risk from power lines, collision with windows and cars, and other mortality factors.
15. Avoid excessive groundwater pumping and river diversion that can lead to destruction of nest trees, roosts, and foraging areas.
16. Use an approved non-toxic shot when hunting migratory waterfowl, consistent with current hunting regulations. Eagles can be poisoned by elevated levels of lead after feeding on fish and waterfowl that have ingested lead shot or carrion killed with lead shot.
Fact Sheet Created June 2007; Revised October 2012
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