Corwin on Conservation: Bald Eagle

corwin on consErvaTIon

bald eagle conservation challenges Lead poisoning, rodenticide, pesticides, habitat loss, prey loss.

The shaggy, fierce-eyed bird has been our national symbol since 1782. It wasn’t until the 1960s and 1970s that bald eagles became an emblem of the environmental movement as their numbers plummeted from the effects of the pesticide DDT. Once DDT was banned and the species was fully protected under the fledgling Endangered Species Act, however, eagle numbers began to rebound, gradually at first and then with increasing vigor. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the bald eagle from the federal endangered species list.