WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007
Bald Eagle Soars Off Endangered List
Interior Department Removes American Bald Eagle From Endangered Species List
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Play CBS Video Video Bald Eagle Makes A Comeback Special breeding programs have succeeded in bringing back the bald eagle from the brink of extinction in much of the U.S. John Blackstone reports.
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A bald eagle soars past a U.S. flag in Juneau, Alaska, on June 27, 2007, one day before the Americal symbol was taken off the endangered list. (AP Photo/The Juneau Empire)
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Mr. Bush said the bald eagle's resurgence after a four-decade-long fight should be credited to cooperation between private landowners and federal and state governments. "This great conservation achievement means more and more Americans across the nation will enjoy the thrill of seeing bald eagles soar," he said.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, making the formal announcement at the Jefferson Memorial, said: "Today I am proud to announce the eagle has returned."
His department made the recovery official by removing the eagle from the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The bird had been reclassified from endangered to threatened in 1995.
There are now nearly 10,000 mating pairs of bald eagles in the contiguous 48 states, compared to a documented 417 in 1963 when the bird was on the verge of extinction everywhere except in Alaska and Canada where it has continued to thrive.
Soaring over concrete and pavement, the bald eagles nesting in Philadelphia this year may provide the best evidence of all that America's bird is back, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone. It's the first time in 200 years there are real Philadelphia eagles.
"After years of careful study, public comment and planning, the Department of Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are confident in the future security of the American bald eagle," said Kempthorne.
He promised that "from this point forward we will work to ensure that the eagle never again needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act."
The eagle, whose decline came during years in which the bird was often targeted by hunters, will still be protected by state statutes and a federal law passed by Congress in 1940 that makes it illegal to kill a bald eagle.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is developing guidelines on how that law will be implemented. It also is developing a permitting system to allow landowners to develop their property and still protect the eagle population.
A federal judge in Minnesota last year ordered the eagle removed from the list unless the government could prove further delays were necessary. The order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property with an active bald eagle nest.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- Can't wait to shoot one !
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- My first thought: Is this more Cheney manure designed to open our forests for the logging industry or some other as yet obscure pandering? My second thought was: has this administrations corrosive and deceitful policies made me paranoid to the point I no longer trust our government? My answer to the first question is I don't know, and to the second question yes!
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- Great story,glad to hear about the comeback of this majestic and beautiful bird.One of the founding fathers Ben Franklin has proposed that instead of the bald eage,the wild turkey be the national symbol.Ben Franklin was a good man,
but this was one proposal that I am glad was rejected by the other founding fathers. - Reply to this comment
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
