Show Bald Eagle removed from endangered list Rick Weiss The Washington Post Declaring victory in the long decades-long bald eagle from extinction effort to save the Service said the U US U.S. S. S Fish and Wildlife a stalled effort to Monday it would revive avian predator from the the majestic remove endangered and threatened federal list of species The recovery of the bald eagle our national success success success suc suc- national symbol is also a great director H. H Dale Hall cess story agency said in a statement comes amid a steady increase The move in the number of breeding pairs in North America Several environmental groups have said they could support deli delisting sting the bald eagle as long as other protections remain in place and the government carefully careful careful- ly monitors populations for years to come Environmental scientists took the opportunity opportunity opportunity Monday however to warn against recent moves in Congress that they said would weaken provisions of the Endangered Species Act Recovering an endangered species is not easy said Doug Inkley senior science adviser at the National Wildlife Federation It takes a long time and a lot of effort But with appropriate laws and resources we can continue to achieve success When the first Europeans arrived in North America an estimated pairs of bald eagles populated the area that is now the lower 48 states By 1963 that number had dropped to pairs the result of widespread widespread widespread wide wide- insecticide insecticide insecticide spread use of the thinning eggshell-thinning cide DDT and rampant development in bird breeding areas Today the number of breeding pairs is estimated at with the birds thriving in 49 states including Alaska the one state in threatened which they were never listed as Bald Eagle Cont Cant on Page 4 Bald Eagle Cont from front Bald eagles are not indigenous to Hawaii In conjunction with its plan to delist the bald eagle the wildlife service said it would propose voluntary guidelines and a new regulatory definition of the term disturb to help landowners and developers understand the protections protections protections pro pro- that will still apply even after the birds are no longer listed listed list list- ed cd as threatened Those additional protections stem from two standing long-standing laws the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act that have specific provisions outlawing the killing or selling of bald eagles or the disturbing of the birds or their nests or eggs Jamie Clark executive executive executive exec exec- vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and director of the wildlife service under President Bill Clinton said she was gratified gratified gratified fied to see that the newly proposed proposed proposed pro pro- posed regulatory definition of disturb appears to encompass the full range of human activities that might have an impact on the birds' birds ability to reproduce But she and others said they would withhold final judgment on the new plan until they saw the language spelling out the governments government's voluntary guidelines guidelines guidelines guide guide- lines that will help officials interpret the language in theother the theother theother other two protective eagle laws A wildlife service spokesman said that language will not be available to the public until it is published in the Federal Register egister Thursday The Fish and Wildlife Service first fast moved to delist bald eagles in 1999 but the effort stalled in part because of concerns about with how to reconcile that step the language that would remain in force under the other two laws A bill that would weaken the standards for designating endangered endangered endangered habitats a key clement element of the Endangered Species Act has passed the House under the leadership leadership leadership lead lead- of Rep Richard W. W Pombo R who chairs the Committee on Resources which has jurisdiction over the act Several environmentalists warned the Senate Monday against following suit including Clark who called it a Ua recipe for extinction |