Bald eagles set to hit milestone

WASHINGTON -- The bald eagle, which has been the nation's symbol for 225 years but was on the brink of extinction more than four decades ago, is expected to be removed from the federal Endangered Species List this week, a reflection of its dramatic rebound after the government banned the pesticide DDT and conservationists engaged in an aggressive restoration program.

"It will cap a 40-year conservation effort for the bald eagle," said Michael Bean , chairman of the wildlife program at Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. "It's a clear signal that it is possible to bring a species back from the brink of extinction."

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which first proposed changing the eagle's status in 1999, faces a court-ordered deadline Friday on a decision whether to remove the bird from the endangered species list. Several environmental groups said they expect the White House to take the eagle off the list.

Nicholas Throckmorton , the agency's spokesman, said the Bush administration would not reveal its decision until later in the week, but he pointed out that the eagle's recovery has been well documented for years.

In 1962, the government counted 417 nesting pairs of eagles in the lower 48 states. In the 1980s, US officials set a target of 3,900 nesting pairs as a trigger to remove the bald eagle from the endangered list; today, roughly 10,000 nesting pairs have been identified in the lower 48 states.

In the 34 years since the endangered list was created, officials have determined that nine species have gone extinct -- including the Longjaw cisco , a deep-water whitefish of the Great Lakes; Samson's pearly mussel , a freshwater mollusk that once inhabited parts of the Ohio and Wabash rivers; and the Santa Barbara song sparrow, known to have lived on a small island off California until a fire destroyed its habitat.

Since 1973, 18 species have recovered enough to be moved off the list, such as the gray whale, the gray wolf, and the Palau ground dove.

This month, the Fish and Wildlife Service said if the eagle is no longer listed as an endangered species, it would be "strongly protected" under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which was written in 1940. The regulations prohibit shooting, killing, or otherwise disturbing the bird.

In an updated proposal of the rules, federal officials defined disturb as agitating or bothering a bald or golden eagle in a way that is likely to cause injury, nest abandonment or interfere with "normal breeding, feeding or sheltering behavior." Environmentalists said yesterday that definition removed what appears to be the final hurdle to take the bald eagle off the list.

Although the bald eagle was officially made the national symbol in 1782, it had been wrongly perceived as a dangerous predator for more than 150 years.

In past years, hunters killed them in great numbers. Alaska enacted a 50-cent bounty for each dead eagle, leading to the killings of an estimated 100,000 eagles in the first half of the 20th century.

The reduced populations were further hit by the widespread use of DDT for mosquito control during the middle of the 20th century. The pesticide caused female eagles to lay eggs with abnormally thin shells, which dramatically reduced their reproduction.

When DDT was banned in 1972, the restoration of eagle populations carefully unfolded with the help of captive breeding programs, reintroduction of the species in areas around the country, and broad federal protection of nest sites and habitats.

The program brought nesting pairs of the bald eagle back to Massachusetts for the first time since 1905. Today, the state has documented at least 25 breeding pairs, up from 10 a decade ago. Maine now has more than 400 breeding pairs, double the number in a decade, and the lower 48 states now have nesting pairs of the bald eagle. Vermont is the only state that has not had nestlings since the recovery effort began.

"In Massachusetts, they are showing us they are remarkably tolerant of people," said Tom French , head of the endangered species program for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife . "You think of endangered species as icons of the wilderness. . . . But we have a nesting site next to where people water ski, a canoe rental place, and all kinds of things happening around them."

The two greatest concentrations in the state are along the Connecticut River and around the Quabbin Reservoir in the central part of the state, French said.

John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com.