Bald Eagle Returns to Channel Islands
Whether the species can thrive in southern California will be tested.
CHANNEL ISLANDS N.P., CALIF.—The bald eagle has been reintroduced at Channel Islands National Park, a project that, if successful, could punctuate the endangered species' comeback.
As part of a five-year study, the National Park Service will release 12 chicks into the park each year, starting this summer, to see whether they can thrive there as they have across the United States in recent years.
Channel Islands had been a marine stronghold for bald eagles until DDT contamination from a manufacturing plant decimated them 50 years ago. Many nesting locations in California have also been eliminated by development or other human disturbance, said Laura Valoppi, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The reintroduction of bald eagles at Channel Islands is especially important because the park represents a key coastal area at which the species once flourished, Valoppi said.
"The bald eagle has largely reached recovery goals in the rest of the United States," except for specific areas such as Channel Islands, she said.
Remnants of DDT remain in the Channel Islands, resulting in the failure of recent bald eagle restoration efforts on Santa Catalina Island. The contaminants thinned the shells of eggs laid by the bald eagles, causing chicks to die.
But wildlife officials hope this attempt will be more successful, because the four islands to be studied—San Miguel, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa—are farther from the contaminated area, and the birds will be closely monitored.
The bald eagle was listed as an endangered species in 1973. But the DDT ban, enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, and persistent restoration projects have resuscitated the eagle to the point that there is a proposal to remove it from the endangered species list. There are about 6,000 breeding pairs nationwide, up from 417 in 1963.
Learn more about bald eagles.
