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Show Bald Eagle Study Underway While Utah and the nation celebrate 200 years of the bald eagle as our national svmbol during National Wildlife Week. March 14-20. nine bald eagles in Tooele Counts' are receiving special attention front ildh;e biologists. biolo-gists. I'inv radios attached to each bird's tail feathers allow the eagles to be monitored by radio teleme-i teleme-i r v . the stud,, first of its kind in l.'fai'. - .is set up by Phil ,-;it, nongame biologist : V r Utah Division of W:i...'I-' Resources of the ne;i:-'iv.ent of Natural Re-sri.iv Re-sri.iv :i and Energy. He is a-vMod by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of L a 'i d Management and Bngham Young University. Two of the eagles had been equipped with radios by a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service bioloigist in Glacier National Park before the eagles migrated to Utah in' December. Decem-ber. Wagner says' the radio transmitted not only pinpoints pin-points the locations of the eagles, but also picks up movements by the eagles when roosting and changes in flight tempo. The purpose of the project is to document bald eagie habitat usage. roosting areas and behavior traits. Already, biologists have noted several favorite roosting areas. Gathering this data is important to help protect the bald eagle, endangered in 4.3 of the 48 lower states, including Utah. The Tooele County study is only one example of the National Wildlife Week theme "We Care About Eagles' and the concern being shown all over America Amer-ica for the bald eagle found only in North America. Appropriately. 1982 is called "The Year of the Eagle." Governor Scott Matheson recently signed a proclamation proclama-tion declaring 1982 as the "Year of the Eagle" in Utah. He was also one of the first governors to pledge state support to the concept of a national bald eagle trust to enhance the bald eagle and its habitat, recently proposed by Alaska Governor Jay Hammond. Two hundred years ago. the population of bald eagles mav have approached lOO'.OOO in the United States. With habitat destruction and pollution. bald eagles dwindled to only a few thousand. Recently, indications indica-tions are that bald eagle populations may be on an upward trend due to effort to protect it. For the past four years. Utah has joined the other continental United States and Canadian provinces in a January bald eagle county. Last year. 13.619 bald eagles were counted nationwide. During the 1979 to 1981 bald eagle counts in Utah. 658, 662 and 743 bald eagles were counted respectively. This year, over 700 were counted throughout the state. The final count has not yet been tabulated. In Tooele County, the radioed bald eagles will be monitored until they return to Canada in several weeks. Wagner said seven of the nine eagles are still being monitored. Two eagles did not stay in the area. The radios will drop off with the tail feathers during the molt in four to five months. Wagner hopes" to continue the Tooele County bald eagle study in 1983. Robert Redford in honorary chairman of the 45th annual National Wildlife Week. In Utah, the Utah Wildlife Federation has distributed "We Care About Eagles" educational kits to elementary elemen-tary schools throughout the state |