American bald eagle gets its due

POWELL - The American bald eagle needs no introduction.

It first appeared on a coin in 1776 on a Massachusetts copper cent, and it was emblazoned on the coat of arms for the new country's Great Seal in 1782.

But somehow it took 242 years as America's favorite emblem to finally get its due, and the majestic bird still faces serious environmental threats.

In December, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law officially naming the bald eagle as the national bird.

Meanwhile, most Americans assumed it was already a done deal.

The bill had bipartisan support, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), sponsoring the bill in June and Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Tina Smith (DMinn.) signed on as co-sponsors.

"The bald eagle is an enduring symbol of American freedom and values, and I am thrilled it is finally getting the recognition it deserves as our official national bird," Lummis said in an email exchange with the Tribune after Biden signed the bill into law.

Despite the tardy recognition, we should all celebrate the bald eagle and its conservation story, said Teton Raptor Center Conservation Director and Sporting Lead-Free Founder Brian Bedrosian.

"[Saving the bald eagle] is something we should be proud of," he said. "It's one of our best conservation success stories that we have in North America. We should be proud that we achieved the goal of saving the bald eagle and making it, you know, pretty prolific these days."

Beginning in the early 1960s, public outcry eventually forced the government to do something about bald eagle populations that were nosediving, largely due to the pesticide DDT.

The Environmental Protection Agency was formed by the Nixon administration in 1970 with the mission of protecting human health and the environment.

On Dec. 31, 1972, the EPA announced the final cancellation of all remaining crop uses of DDT in the U.S.

The order didn't affect public health and quarantine uses, or exports of DDT. The pesticide is still used in some countries to control malaria, a disease that has killed millions of people worldwide.

In 1973 Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law.

Interestingly, the bald eagle had already been declared endangered in the act's predecessor, the Endangered Species Preservation Act.

Today, its population has recovered significantly, thanks to targeted conservation measures spearheaded by the federal government and private individuals, according to the EPA history. These measures included habitat protection, captive breeding programs, and of course, banning DDT.

"The species' recovery has become a symbol of how the Endangered Species Act can save wildlife from extinction," said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.) as the national bird nomination moved through the House.

Bald eagle populations in the lower 48 states have increased from 417 nesting pairs in 1963 to more than 71,400 nesting pairs and 316,700 individual birds today, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

At the recent Kane Christmas Bird Count in the Yellowtail Wildlife Habitat Management Area, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area Chief of Interpretation and Education Christy Fleming reported citizen scientists had counted 28 bald eagles during the day-long count.

There were times when local bald eagle sightings were kept secret to keep crowds from heading out to view the rare birds. Now, they are a common sight across the country and in Wyoming.

Here in Powell, it's common to see dozens of the majestic birds as they lay in wait from their perches in cottonwood trees north of town waiting for sheep to die.

However - unfortunately - it's also common to see them in Wyoming raptor recovery organizations.

Bedrosian points out the bald eagle still has many threats. Lead poisoning is their greatest threat, he said, followed by roadside vehicle collisions and loss of habitat.

"When I was doing my studies in Northwest Wyoming, during hunting seasons, two thirds of the bald eagles had elevated lead levels and a third had levels that were consistent with clinical poisoning," Bedrosian said during a Monday interview.

He founded Sporting LeadFree about four years ago to educate hunters and anglers about the consequences of using lead.

The organization is not pushing for legislative bans. Instead, it wants to change minds.

Sporting Lead-Free has grown quickly since its inception in 2021, becoming a force encouraging hunters and anglers to use non-lead options afield.

"We've taken this model that we built in Wyoming to a more national level," Bedrosian told the Tribune last January. "We're excited to expand Sporting Lead-Free. We're working with several states now, including Colorado, Montana, a couple in the Midwest [Minnesota and Wisconsin] and Alaska to incorporate with their state agencies as well as other organizations in those states to increase our message and awareness and provide information to them so they can adapt it to their local communities."

And now, with all the attention on the species, Bedrosian said having the bird in the news helps with conservation efforts.

"I think because a lot of people already assumed it was our national bird, I'm not sure [the national bird designation] is going to change too much," he said. "But, you know, I think just showcasing and kind of rallying around the bald eagle like we have ... is really important in advancing conservation of bald eagles and other raptors too."