Saving Arizona's Bald Eagles

[jmzblond]

Fight on to save Arizona's bald eagle
3 groups want bird on endangered list
Kate Nolan
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 7, 2004 12:00 AM

Three Arizona environmental groups filed a petition Wednesday to give Arizona's bald eagles their own spot on the federal endangered species list.

The North American bald eagle has been listed since 1978, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed taking it off the list.

The 137-page petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, Maricopa Audubon and the Arizona Audubon Council asks the federal government to recognize the Southwestern desert nesting bald eagle as a distinct population and to list it as endangered and protect its habitat.

"This eagle population faces extreme challenges to survive," said Dr. Robin Silver, who delivered the petition to the Phoenix field office of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He says the bird could be extinct in 57 years, based on government reports.

"But that's independent of the increasing risks it faces," said Silver, of the Center for Biological Diversity. He includes loss of desert river habitat and nesting trees, pollution by pesticides and heavy metals among the factors threatening Southwestern eagles, of which most live in central Arizona.

The Southwestern eagle is smaller than its northern counterparts, lighter in color and mates earlier in the season. Only 25 percent of Arizona fledglings survive to breed, and they reproduce less successfully than other eagles.

The petitioners contend that if the national population of eagles loses its protection, the Arizona group, estimated at 160 adults, will founder. Because most live near the Phoenix metropolitan area along the lower Salt and Verde rivers, the birds will be subjected to increasing development and recreational pressures, the groups say.

Bald eagles have proliferated nationally since being listed, but the Arizona eagles have lagged.

Their survival is credited to an intricate nest watch program begun by Audubon groups in the 1970s and managed by the Arizona Department of Game and Fish for the past 25 years.

The next step for Silver's petition is a 90-day evaluation by U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

Reach the reporter at kate.nolan@arizonarepublic.com.
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