American Bald Eagle No Longer Endangered

The Secretary of the Interior yesterday made it official. The American Bald Eagle, a symbol of the American Republic along with the Stars and Stripes, is off the Endangered Species list. In 1963, the lower 48 states had but 440 mating pairs. Since then, a massive conservation effort has resulted in a 25 fold increase. The 10,000 or so pairs represent a “back-from-the-brink” story that illustrates just what proper environmental laws can achieve.

When America was founded, there was some debate over what the national avian symbol should be. While the Bald Eagle was adopted, Ben Franklin noted, “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him . . .” Mr. Franklin preferred the Turkey, “a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.” Indeed, the nation might be much different with a turkey on the Great Seal.

Be that as it may, the Bald Eagle got the job, and as Americans moved ever westward, they did damage to the environment around them. That is not to fault Americans, per se, but the arrival of homo sapiens in any area seems to lead to ecological destruction. The megafauna of Australia, for example, died out shortly after the Aborigines arrived about 40,000 years ago. Interestingly, in Alaska, where there is a happy combination of lots of land, few people and decent prey, the bald eagle has an estimated population of 50,000 to 70,000 pairs, and it was never under the Endangers Species Act there.

The key to the recovery of the Bald Eagle was the banning of DDT in the US in 1972. DDT had the effect of softening the shells of newly laid eggs and generally making it hard to make new eagles. Additionally, the government engaged in captive breeding programs, reintroductions, law enforcement efforts, protection of habitat around nest sites and land purchase and preservation activities. Species have a way of expanding their populations when pressures on their survival vanish.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall put it beautifully, “It’s fitting that our national symbol has also become a symbol of the great things that happen through cooperative conservation. Eagles could not have recovered without a support network of strong partnerships among government at all levels, tribes, conservation organizations, the business community and individual citizens.” This journal tends to take a skeptical (some complain cynical) view of human efforts. Exceptions to low expectations are inevitably welcome. Nevertheless, Mr. Franklin did have a point.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home