BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio officials confirmed Wednesday that they will continue to classify the bald eagle as an endangered species when the U.S. Interior Department lifts all federal protections.
In 1995, Interior said bald eagles had become so numerous that it struck them from the endangered list and moved them to the threatened species list.
Now, it proposes to end that status.
Ohio's caution reflects the state's "mild opposition" to the federal proposal, according to Dave Risley, assistant administrator for wildlife management at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
He fears Interior's decision will promote an attitude: "If it's not endangered, it's not important."
And that's unacceptable, Mr. Risley said. "They're neat. They're such a powerful, awesome bird."
Sara Barth, spokeswoman for the National Wildlife Federation in Vienna, Va., also acknowledged qualms about Interior's plan. Once off the lists, the bald eagle can be hunted again in states without bans such as Ohio's.
Similarly, bald eagle habitats no longer will have federal protection, and they can be cleared with impunity where no state laws apply.
No bald eagles have been reported in southern Ohio, Mr. Risley said.
The known number of nesting pairs statewide has risen from four to 47 during the past 20 years.
That was a pleasant surprise, he added. "Our goal at one time was 20 pairs by 2000."
He credited luck and loving care.
Typically, bald eagles lay two eggs. The statewide survival average is 1.3 for every pair. Survival means fledglings left the nest under their own power.
ODNR supplemented the natural increase with eaglets from other states where parents were dead, a nest had more than two eaglets, or the tree or nest had fallen and the eaglets were in dire straits. ODNR also kept tabs on every eaglet known in Ohio, Mr. Risley said. "We had people climb up to every nest and band the young." Dave Jenike, assistant director of education at the Cincinnati Zoo, said there have been persistent spottings of bald eagles around Brookville Lake in southeastern Indiana but none had built nests. Not unlike other Americans, this national symbol's eating habits were at the heart of its mortality.
For decades, runoff from the pesticide DDT polluted American waters and contaminated the fish on which bald eagles live. The DDT fatally weakened egg shells and eaglets failed to develop. Although other chemicals continue to endanger the birds, the 1972 U.S. ban on DDT was the essential first step in the bald eagle's revival, Mr. Risley said.
"They're all over the place," Ms. Barth said. "It's a classic comeback story."
