By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Wednesday, July 4, 2007 12:00 am
Region's bald eagle population doing well
The bald eagle was taken off the federal endangered species list last week, and the bird's population has soared in the mid-Willamette Valley over the last three decades, said Frank Isaacs, an Oregon State University wildlife biologist and Wren-area resident.
Oregon now boasts 500 pairs of nesting birds. That's up from just 100 pairs when OSU started the Oregon Bald Eagle Nest Survey in 1978.
"Benton County, there's about a half a dozen. Linn County, because Linn County goes up into the mountains, goes up into the Cascades, it has probably a dozen," Isaacs said.
When the survey began, there was only one unoccupied nest in Benton County and no known nests in Linn County.
"Now, it's hard to go out without being in bald eagle territory. I was walking down to the Saturday market in downtown Corvallis on Saturday, and there was a bald eagle flying overhead," Isaacs said.
"The population is doing really well virtually statewide," said Charlie Bruce, threatened and endangered species coordinator for the wildlife division of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "There's no reason it shouldn't continue to increase over the next 10 to 20 years," the Corvallis resident added.
The population jump is due to several factors, including the bird being declared an endangered species in 1967, Congress banning the use of DDT in 1972, and changing attitudes toward the raptor.
People aren't shooting, poisoning and trapping the bird because of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940. America's symbol of liberty and freedom gradually began nesting in places that it didn't consider before because of persecution from humans.
However, there still are conflicting views about the bird, even locally.
"Most of the people I run into appreciate eagles and like to see them," Isaacs said. "I know there are sheep ranchers, especially, who don't care for them."
The delisting of the bald eagle concerns Isaacs some, because the endangered species act provided for proactive habitat management with any projects that involved federal funding. Without the protection offered by the endangered listing, eagle habitat could be at increased risk, he said.
"There are still some issues in dealing with nest site protection on nonfederal lands," Bruce said. "There are a lot of the sites, probably 30 percent or more, on private lands in the state. The work goes on. It's just a little different frame of mind at this point."
On Monday, Isaacs headed back out into the field to finish surveying nests for eagle chicks. This summer is his 29th year of looking for bald eagles throughout Oregon.
While Isaacs is the only paid OSU staff member on the project, he gets plenty of help from other biologists and volunteers.
The survey starts in mid-March and ends in mid-July.
"We have to count the young before they leave the nest," Isaacs said.
In 1963, there were 417 bald eagles in the lower 48 states, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
That population now is 11,040, according to the American Bird Conservancy. The conservancy said that 44 percent of bird species listed on the endangered species list have seen population increases.
Kyle Odegard covers the city of Corvallis and Benton County government. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.