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Tucson Audubon Society
Bald Eagle Delisting and
the Future of the ESA
by Brian Powell, Research
Specialist, USGS
(first published in the May-June, 2006 Vermilion Flycatcher
newsletter)
See also Tucson Audubon's letter
to the US Fish & Wildlife Service regarding the delisting
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The majestic Bald Eagle is back. Once hunted for its feathers, then poisoned by persistent organochlorine pesticides (such as DDT), the Bald Eagle’s population in the lower 48 states has bounded back from 487 breeding pairs in 1963 to over 5,700 in 1999. In Arizona, breeding populations have more than doubled since the early 1990s to approximately 45 nesting pairs today, most of them along the Salt and Verde River corridors. Because of the increase in the Bald Eagle population in the lower 48 states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced its intention to remove the eagle from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in 1999. The USFWS recently reopened the public comment period, which will close on May 17, 2006. Tucson Audubon plans to submit comments in the coming month.
In general, we support the proposed delisting of the Bald Eagle. Our belief is that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is in place to recover imperiled species. When target populations are achieved, species or populations should be removed to allow attention to focus on other species in need of conservation action.
However, we are concerned about the long-term persistence of Bald Eagles in Arizona and other Southwestern states. Although the Arizona breeding population may be at a 100-year high, it is still small and could quickly be reduced due to several factors including drought and development in and adjacent to prime habitat. In addition, Arizona’s population is at the edge of the species’ range, which makes it vulnerable if populations diminish elsewhere. (The recent decline of the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in the Tucson area may be an example of this process.) For these reasons we will recommend continued monitoring beyond the mandatory 5-year period following delisting and that special attention be given to the Southwestern population, even exempting it from delisting.
The dramatic comeback of the Bald Eagle population in the lower 48 states is one of the success stories of the ESA which has been a critical tool for conservation since its enactment in 1973. Since 1994, the strength of the ESA has been eroded somewhat, but at no time since its enactment has it been under assault as it is now. In September the U.S. House of Representatives hastily passed the "Pombo" bill (H.R. 3824), which would have the effect of knocking the teeth out the act. The bill would eliminate critical habitat designations (the tool that protects habitat and sets recovery goals); it would put politicians, not scientists in charge of reviewing the scientific credibility of proposed new listings; restrict the types of scientific data that can be used in a species’ listing; and it would remove the mandate for recovery plans and the possibility of protecting distinct populations (e.g., the Southwestern populations of the Bald Eagle and Yellow-billed Cuckoo). That’s not a complete list, but one gets the general implications of this bill.
Cooler heads are prevailing in the Senate where the bill is being reviewed by the more conservation-minded Environment and Public Works Committee. Since passage of the House bill in September, things have not gone well for Republicans in Congress, who may not have the political capital to remove environmental protections that have outstanding support from the American public (86% of Americans favor a strong ESA). We hope the Pombo bill dies an unceremonious death in the committee; some things are just meant to go extinct. But if the bill does emerge from committee for a full vote in the Senate, we urge Tucson Audubon members to become involved by voicing their support for protecting the Endangered Species Act, a vital conservation tool.
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This page was updated on 06/26/06