Author: Cathy Salmento

Duck Hunting Decreasing Across U.S.

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 52

Delta Waterfowl has conducted a study that reports that the number of duck hunters on the North American continent is steadily decreasing.  This indicates that the future of conservation projects and, ultimately, the numbers of waterfowl that continent can support are going to fail.

The report was published in the spring issue of Delta’s quarterly magazine.  The story was titled, ‘Looming Crisis: Falling waterfowl hunter numbers threaten the future of hunting and conservation.’ According to Delta’s research, only 998,600 hunters pursued ducks in the United States in 2015. In comparison, 2 million hunters did so in 1970.

The decline in the number of duck hunters started in the mid-1990s. The number of duck hunters has declined almost every year since 1997 when the number of hunters was 1.41 million.

While this may seem like a win for some people, the decrease in duck hunters does cause some issues to arise.  While the decrease in hunting might not cause an issue on its own, but couple that with a record boom in the duck populations and problems occur. While hunter numbers were similar in 2015 to what they were in 1990, in 1990 one of the lowest duck populations since records have been kept occurred. It has been estimated by biologists that fewer than 30 million ducks inhabited the North American continent in 1990. That number has increased to nearly 50 million ducks in 2015.

John Devney, vice president of U.S. policy for Delta Waterfowl believes that one of the causes of the decrease in numbers is because adult hunters do not have access to productive hunting grounds, so they do not take their kid’s hunting.  Since adults are not introducing children to hunting, it leads to problems recruiting hunters later on.

“If we want waterfowl hunter numbers to grow or remain stable, we need recruitment to keep pace with the losses,” he said. “To recruit new hunters, we need to foster a social structure and peer support that allows a kid to stay in the game.

“We tell folks to support conservation — to replace the ducks they shoot every year. We should also be telling them that you must replace yourself as a duck hunter. That’s as big a part of the job as buying a federal duck stamp.”

Devney is mainly concerned that the hunter numbers are declining despite the record duck numbers. Starting in the mid-1990s, hunters have enjoyed liberal season lengths and bag limits because population numbers have been so high. An entire generation of hunters has no idea what it’s like to hunt when regulations are much more restricted.

“And we’re still losing hunters,” Devney said. “What happens when the prairies dry out and we have shorter duck seasons? It scares me to death. Mallards are doing well, but duck hunters are doing terribly.”

What do you think should be done about the increasing duck population?  What is your biggest concern regarding the decrease in the number of duck hunters?

Source: Masson, Todd. “Duck Hunter Numbers Declining Significantly in Louisiana, Nationally.” NOLA.com. The Times-Picayune, 22 Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

US Honeybee Population Still Low but Rising

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 51

All is not lost regarding the American honeybee population. A step in the right direction regarding the resurgence of their population occurred when winter losses were the lowest in more than a decade, according to a U.S. survey of beekeepers released May 25, 2017.

The annual Bee Informed Partnership survey found that the beekeepers lost 21 percent of their colonies over last winter. Though this number is still too high, it is the lowest winter loss percentage since the survey started in 2006 and an improvement from nearly 27 percent the winter before.

The ultimate goal of the U.S. government is to keep losses under 15 percent in the winter.

“It’s good news in that the numbers are down, but it’s certainly not a good picture,” said survey director Dennis vanEngelsdorp. “It’s gone from horrible to bad.”

vanEngelsdorp, a University of Maryland entomologist, believes that the lower percentage can be attributed to the reduction in varroa mites, a lethal parasite. According to him, a new product to combat the mite and better weather for pesticide use is the reason for the decrease in the parasite.

The average over a 10-year span for winter losses is 28.4 percent.

“We would of course all love it if the trend continues, but there are so many factors playing a role in colony health,” said bee expert Elina Lastro Nino at the University of California Davis, who wasn’t part of the survey. “I am glad to see this, but wouldn’t celebrate too much yet.”

There has been a steadily increasing decline in bees and other pollinators over more than ten years. Scientists blame the decline on a mix of parasites, disease, pesticides and poor nutrition.

Though the largest losses to bee colonies occur during the winter, these losses happen year round. Another good sign is that the survey found that the yearly losses were also down, but not to record lows. The survey found that around one third of the honey bee colonies that were around in April 2016 did not survive the year. This is improvement to last year when the yearly loss rate was higher than 40 percent.

The survey was started by the U.S. government but is now run by a nonprofit. The survey collects its data from nearly 5,000 beekeepers who manage more than 360,000 colonies. University of Montana’s Jerry Bromenshenk believes that the study gives too much weight to backyard beekeepers rather than commercial beekeepers.

Source: Borenstein, Seth. “Survey Finds US Honeybee Losses Improve from Horrible to Bad.” ABC News. ABC News Network, 25 May 2017. Web. 29 May 2017.

Military Bases Provide Thriving Environment for a Rare Butterfly

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 49

The U.S. military is helping a tiny rare butterfly flourish by providing the living space for these butterflies on their military bases; right next to tanks and other military vehicles.

The butterfly is called a frosted elfin and it has a wingspan of an inch. They choose to call several military bases home because of the way the military manages open spaces, said Robyn Niver, an endangered species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Military training requires vast open areas, so these bases are some of our last great wild places,” Niver said.

The butterfly has been confirmed to be living at Westover Air Reserve Base and Camp Edwards in Massachusetts; Fort McCoy in Wisconsin; Fort Bragg in North Carolina; and the New Hampshire State Military Reservation, she said.

It is not just coincidence that has the frosted elfin choosing to live at multiple military bases. All of these bases manage their vegetation through controlled burns, which create the perfect conditions for wild blue lupine and indigo to grow, the frosted elfin caterpillar’s two host plants.

The small butterflies were first seen at Westover in Chicopee, Massachusetts, about 20 years ago, according to Jack Moriarty, the base’s chief of environmental engineering.

The reason for the strict vegetation control at the base is because it is critical for the safety of the massive C5 military transport aircraft that are housed there. If the vegetation is cut too short, it attracts geese and gulls, increasing the risk of aircraft strikes. If it is allowed to grow too tall, turkeys, deer, and coyotes move in. Lupine and indigo are just the right height.

Though there have been stories of earlier sightings, the frosted elfin was official confirmed at Camp Edwards on Cape Cod just this spring, said Jake McCumber, the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s natural resources manager.

“It was pretty exciting. I was thrilled,” he said. “Our grasslands are in the headquarters area, so it’s probably the busiest part of the base.”

The area is used for the setup of field artillery equipment and helicopter exercises.

The frosted elfin has lived in Fort McCoy for about two decades but it appears that recently the population has exploded, said Tim Wilder, the base’s endangered species biologist. An annual count found about 130 of the insects on the base this spring, the most since the survey began in 2009.

Frosted elfins –which live anywhere from New England to Florida, and as far west as Texas — are not on the federal list of endangered species, but they are headed there, Niver said. Several states already list them as protected, and they have disappeared completely from others.

The hope is that the knowledge gained about the populations of frosted elfins — and a whole host of other rare insects, birds, bats and turtles that thrive on military bases — can be replicated elsewhere.

“Our next step now is finding out how we can work with other partners besides the military to try to boost numbers of rare species on other lands as well,” Niver said.

Source: Pratt, Mark. “Rare Butterfly Thrives On, and Because Of, U.S. Military Bases.” The Denver Post. The Denver Post, 03 July 2017. Web. 03 July 2017.

New Steps Being Taken To Combat Deadly Bat Disease

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 46

I recently visited Craters of the Moon National Park in Idaho and was really excited to explore these unusually landscape as well as the extensive caves. You can imagine my surprise when I was asked if any of the clothing I was currently wearing had been worn while I was in any other cave since 2005. It was explained to me about how a lot of bat species around the world have been affected by a fungus that causes white nose syndrome which is deadly to bats and they were trying to prevent the spreading of the disease. When I got back I knew I had to include an article in the newsletter and I am so happy to be able to include one about what is being done to try and help the bats.

It was announced on July 17, 2017 that the Fish and Wildlife Service has increased their efforts to fight a devastating fungal disease that is threatening the U.S. bat population. They are creating grants that total a little over $1 million for state-level programs targeting white-nose syndrome.

The total dollars going to these grants is $1,016,784. The grants are being spread across 37 states and the District of Columbia. The size of the allocations going to individual states ranges from $12,440 for Arizona to $30,000 each for several states including Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“Bats are beneficial in many ways,” Jeremy Coleman, national white-nose syndrome coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement. “While state natural resource agencies are on the front lines of bat conservation, many have limited options for responding to this devastating disease without these funds.”

Some of the money for the grants is coming from the FWS’s “Science Support” component, which the Trump administration’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal would get rid of.

A fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans is the cause of white-nose syndrome, which affects most but not all bat species. It was estimated that more than 6 million bats have died from the disease through 2012, and officials say many more have died since then.

White-nose syndrome has been found in more than 30 states and five Canadian provinces, endangering the insect-gobbling animal that’s helpful to farmers. It has also captured the attention of Congress, with lawmakers holding hearings, touring caves and using past budgets to direct funding for research (Greenwire, April 6, 2012).

The fungus was not discovered in U.S. until the winter of 2006-2007, when it was located in New York. Since the discovery, the FWS has distributed some $7 million in related grants. The funding is part of what the agency describes as “a Service-led, cooperative, international effort involving more than 100 state, federal, tribal, academic and nonprofit partners.”

“Funding from the Service provides state fish and wildlife agencies with critically important support to manage and mitigate the spread of the disease to new areas of the country,” Nick Wiley, president of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies and executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said in a statement.

Nick Sharp, a biologist with the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, added that “we simply would not have the capacity to do this work” without the federal funding.

More bats were discovered earlier this year to have white-nose syndrome. These bats were the Southeastern bat population in a cave in Shelby County, Ala. With this new species discovered, a total of nine hibernating bat species in North America are known to be afflicted by the fungus. The Endangered Species Act protects three of the nine species.

FWS and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have created the Bats for the Future Fund, a competitive grant program to fund research.

Source: Doyle, Michael. “Devastating Bat Disease Targeted by New Federal Grants.” Greenwire. E&E News, 17 July 2017. Web. 17 July 2017.

Planes Fly into Smoke to Figure Out What it’s Made Of

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 42

Wildfires produce large clouds of smoke. No one knows what the smoke clouds are made of unless a sample is taken directly from the cloud and tested. This is exactly what was done during the Rim Fire in Yosemite. A NASA DC-8 passenger plane and an Alpha fighter jet each flew through the plume with in-flight labs, that scientists created to measure exactly what the fire was producing.

Though the obvious answer is that fire creates smoke, not all smoke is made up of the same gases. The only way to tell the difference is to study the particles they ferry along. “That’s what you’re actually seeing when you see a smoke plume, you know the big white smoke plume. That’s sunlight bouncing off the little particles,” says Bob Yokelson, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Montana. What makes up smoke matters to human lungs and the climate—which is why Yokelson’s team and NASA’s Alpha jet crew are busy planning their next flights for late summer.

It is not easy to make a lab fly. It can take over a year for teams of scientists to design and assemble custom gas and particle measurement systems. Not only does to these finicky, temperamental machines have to work at a range of temperatures and pressures, they also need to neatly replace a row of plane seats or get even smaller.

The Alpha jet was converted from a fighter jet in 2010. Before this could happen, it had to be quieted down for civilian airspace, and equipped with sensors to measure trace gases in the atmosphere: ozone, carbon dioxide, methane, and formaldehyde. As its two pilots follow a fire’s smoke, the sensors continuously measure the air, according to Laura Iraci, the NASA chemist who runs the experiments. After a two or three hour flight, they land back at the airstrip with data cards full of numbers to analyze.

When Yokelson and his team outfit a jetliner like the DC-8 that flew to the Rim Fire, they get to renovate the plane’s interior. “We’ll take out every other row of seats, and bolt down instruments in their place, so now you have the scientist sitting in front of an instrument and they can monitor the data as we’re sampling the atmosphere,” he says. This summer, their team is getting a C-130 jet ready for its close-up–test flights, set for September.

Airborne studies like these have highlighted that wildfires burn dirtier than the ones that are carefully lit and contained in the forest. More particulate matter is produced by the bigger logs and wetter material. Also as fires smolder longer, they can actually start to release a serious amount of methane, which traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Both Yokelson and Iraci have lots more questions about what else fires dump into the atmosphere, and how the airspace changes throughout the course of a fire. Once the planes are ready again, they are headed for more smoke. The accurate field measurements are the key to good air quality and climate change models. The EPA would love to predict how wildfire pollutants might descend on neighboring cities and states. “We’re really optimistic that our data can provide sort of truth, so they can continue improving their models,” says Iraci. It may take a season or two to pump new data in, but predicting air quality around wildfires could get a lot better in the next few years.

Source: Wilhelm, Menaka. “The Tricked-Out Research Planes That Fly Through Wildfires.” Wired. Conde Nast, 25 July 2017. Web. 31 July 2017.

Beavers Helpful Rebuilding Wetlands

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 38

A new study researched in Scotland reveals beavers’ ability to engineer desolate land into thriving wetlands.

Four beavers were re-introduced to the land and observed for a decade. The observations found that the beavers created almost 200m of dams, 500m of canals and an acre of ponds. The landscape was “almost unrecognizable” from the original field, which now includes an increase plant species of almost 50% and richly varied habitats established across the 30 acre site.

The researchers say that their study is solid evidence that beavers can be a low-cost option in restoring wetlands, an important and biodiverse habitat that has lost two-thirds of its worldwide extent since 1900.

“Wetlands also serve to store water and improve its quality – they are the ‘kidneys of the landscape’,” said Professor Nigel Willby, at Stirling University and one of the study team. Earlier research by the team showed how beaver dams can slow water flows, reducing downstream flood risk and water pollution.

Beavers build dams in order to create pools in which they can shelter from their biggest predators, besides humans. These predators are bears, wolves and wolverines. The research was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The site was regularly surveyed and located near Blairgowrie in Tayside where two beavers were released in 2002 and began to breed in 2006. The lifespan of beavers is 10-15 years in the wild and the average number of beavers around during the study was four.

“After 12 years of habitat engineering by beaver, the study site was almost unrecognisable from its initial state,” the scientists concluded: “The reintroduction of such species may yet prove to be the missing ingredient in successful and sustainable long-term restoration of wetland landscapes.”

Alan Law, another member of the team from Stirling University, said: “We know lots about the benefits of beavers in natural settings, but until now we did not know the full extent of what they can achieve in present-day landscapes where restoration is most needed.”

He said wetland restoration usually involves ditch blocking and mowing or grazing to maintain diversity: “Beavers offer an innovative, more hands-off, solution to the problem of wetland loss. Seeing what beavers can do for our wetlands and countryside highlights the diverse landscape we have been missing for the last 400 years.”

The downside to using beavers to revitalize landscapes is that it has to be carefully managed to deal with the potential impacts on farmers, who fear crops being raided by beavers and damage to embankments that protect low-lying fields and other areas from floods.

“Any species introduction, particularly if it has not been in this country for hundreds of years, can have a massive impact on the many benefits that the countryside delivers,” said Mark Pope, chair of the National Farmers Union’s environment forum. “The impact of beavers is assessed across the whole landscape considering the impacts on all land uses. This study is just one piece of that big jigsaw. We need to learn from Scotland’s experiences before any decisions are taken on the future status of beavers.”

There is also concern about the impact of beaver dams on salmon and other fish. The fear is that beavers might block migration upstream. But Wilby said: “The main conclusions from recent studies were that the overall effect of beavers was positive.” This is because greater biodiversity provides more food for the fish and the deeper pools maintain stable cool water temperatures, even as the climate warms.

“I think as long as beavers have plenty of space to form a decent number of territories, there are enormous potential benefits,” said Wliby. “Sometimes the negative views of farmers can dominate.”

Source: Carrington, Damian. “Eager Beavers Experts at Recreating Wildlife-rich Wetlands, Study Reveals.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 19 July 2017. Web. 19 July 2017.

Water on Moon Plentiful According to New Study

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 37

Future exploration of the moon seems even more likely now that new evidence was provided that a large amount of water is trapped beneath the surface of the moon.

This brings back the question of whether a moon colony could be possible now that water has been discovered on the moon.

“A study of satellite data found ancient volcanic deposits strewn across the moon’s surface contain higher amounts of trapped water compared with surrounding areas” (Gutierrez).

The study “bolsters the idea that the lunar mantle is surprisingly water-rich,” scientists from Brown University say in a press release.

The research conducted by scientists from Brown University was published on Monday, July 24, 2017 in Nature Geoscience. They studied data from India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter.

The Apollo 15 and 17 missions in the early 1970s collected volcanic glass beads from the moon and brought them back to Earth, according to Newsweek. A study in 2011 of these glass beads suggested that they contained water.

The purpose of the new study was to figure out if the beads were anomalies or representative of how much water might exist on the moon, Newsweek reports.

“By looking at the orbital data, we can examine the large pyroclastic (volcanic rock fragment) deposits on the moon that were never sampled by the Apollo or Luna missions,” Ralph Milliken, Brown University associate professor and lead author of the new study, said in a news release.

“The fact that nearly all of them exhibit signatures of water suggests that the Apollo samples are not anomalous, so it may be that the bulk interior of the moon is wet.”

Though the volcanic glass beads only contained a few hundred parts per million, if that, there is a lot of volcanic material to work with, Milliken told CNN.

Some fields of the volcanic remains cover thousands of square kilometers and could be several kilometers deep, Milliken said. “It’s more water than previously recognized,” he told CNN.

A newfound source of water on the moon could “bode well for our long-held visions of a lunar base,” notes Eric Mack for CNET.

“A source of water on the moon could add to a growing undercurrent of renewed excitement about returning to the moon. Besides Moon Express, Japan, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and even (Elon) Musk are among the other big names tossing out new lunar visions.”

The private company, Moon Express’ “first prospecting efforts will be studying pyroclastic deposits on the moon, which hold unique clues to potential deposits of lunar water and other resources,” the company’s founder and CEO, Bob Richards, told Phys.org.

“Our baseline landing site for our maiden lunar expedition is an equatorial region of the moon high in pyroclastic deposits.”

The pyroclastic deposits in the study might be easier to access than previously thought, the study’s co-author, Shuai Li, told CNET.

“Anything that helps save future lunar explorers from having to bring lots of water from home is a big step forward, and our results suggest a new alternative,” he said.

The last time man walked on the moon was in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission.

Source: Gutierrez, Lisa. “Moon Could Contain Lots of Water, Study Suggests, Bolstering Visions of a Lunar Colony.” The Kansas City Star. The Kansas City Star, 24 July 2017. Web. 24 July 2017.

$5.7 Million Given by EPA to NY to Improve Water Quality

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 36

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation received a Performance Partnership grant worth $5.7 million to administer water quality programs from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“The EPA is protecting the environment by engaging our state partners,” said Administrator Scott Pruitt. “This grant should help New York meet their local environmental needs.”

“EPA has no more basic responsibility than to help states secure and protect our nation’s water,” said Acting EPA Regional Administrator Catherine McCabe. “This grant allows New York to conduct the day-to-day work necessary to run its water programs.”

The funds will help the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s continuing environmental programs function while also allowing for greater flexibility to address its highest environmental priorities, improve environmental performance and strengthen its partnership with EPA.  This agreement will help statewide programs to protect and improve water quality. When the water in our rivers, lakes, and oceans become polluted, it can have a great impact on not just humans but also wildlife. It can endanger wildlife, make our drinking water unsafe and threaten the waters in which we swim and fish. EPA supports these efforts under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.

Performance Partnership grants are tools that allow the EPA to provide financial assistance to states and tribes. “These grants allow recipients to use EPA awards with greater flexibility for priority environmental problems or program needs, streamline paperwork and accounting procedures to reduce administrative costs, and try cross-program initiatives and approaches that were difficult to fund under traditional grant approaches” (Rodriguez).

Source: Rodriguez, Elias. “EPA Provides Environmental Programs in N.Y. with $5.7 Million to Improve Water Quality.” EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 20 June 2017. Web. 27 July 2017.

Microsoft Co-Founder Using Tech to Fight Poachers

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 34

Paul Allen, one of the co-founders of Microsoft, wants to cover 90,000 square miles of African territory with smart sensors and drones before this year ends. He wants to do this in order to be able to know what is going on in Africa’s most remote, wildlife-packed corners. There is no larger tech-focused conservation project as of right now that utilizes a command-and-control system so that rangers can record and respond to poaching threats all the way from Kenya to Tanzania.

The project is called the Domain Awareness System (DAS) and is being funded by Allen through his company Vulcan. Though it is a very simple concept, it is much more complex in execution. Though the software is not flashy, it is likely the key to one of most important philanthropic causes of our time.

What DAS wants to accomplish is to study the movement of endangered animals so that rangers can understand where the main poacher threat is going to be and then get ahead of them on a scale that allows Big Data to predict threats across entire regions.

This technology would allow for less of a foot traffic presence which is the current way elephants and rhinos are protected. Anytime one of the sensors were tripped, nearby rangers will be notified about the threat as well as being notified of any microchipped animals in the area.

When asked why Allen wanted to get involved helping to fix this problem, he said that “By nature, I am attracted to tough problems—problems that, by definition, require innovative and dramatic solutions. The DAS project is the ideal combination of two of my interests—technology and the preservation of [the savannah elephant,] one of Africa’s most iconic species.”

Completely accurate data from conservationists cannot be gathered for two to five years, but so far DAS looks to be working well. As of yet, there have not been any animals saved as a direct result of DAS, but there have been two separate cases of rangers using DAS alerts to apprehend poachers who had already made a kill.

There are other significant threats to the African wildlife besides. The system has allowed rangers in Kenya to prevent human-wildlife conflict by understanding which farms’ cattle are most likely to wander into conservation areas. The rangers have worked with locals to keep the livestock out of conservation areas. This allows rangers prevent retaliatory killings by farmers. This happens when wildlife preys on wandering livestock.

The next step is bringing the system to places that still do not have it, such as the jungles and forests of Congo. Enhancing connectivity where it is low will also be key because it will allow DAS to show alerts in real-time instead of on a delay.

Allen is happy to let his team run wild. “I’ve spent time with these park rangers, so I’m familiar with how difficult their work is. Providing this kind of tool to help them defend endangered species is incredibly fulfilling.”

Do you think this could be the answer to helping catch poachers? What else do you think should be done to prevent poachers from harming and killing elephants and rhinos?

Source: Ekstein, Nikki. “Paul Allen Is Using Technology To Save The African Elephant.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 09 May 2017. Web. 10 May 2017.

Bald Eagles Coming Back to New York

Swamp Stomp

Volume 17, Issue 33

According to the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), a new study shows that the number of nesting pairs of bald eagles is bouncing back from their decline in the 1990s.

The study found that there are approximately 323 breeding pairs in New York, which is a record.

“New York state has been a leader in the restoration and recovery of the bald eagle in the northeastern United States,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement, “and this news confirms that our rivers, lakes and forests are capable of supporting our nation’s symbol for generations to come.”

To show just how much these numbers have grown, the DEC estimates that there were only 70 nesting pairs through the early 1900s.

By 1960, there was just one pair left due to indiscriminate killing, competition for habitat and the impact of insecticides such as DDT. Eagles would get infected with DDT when they ate prey contaminated with the chemical. DDT caused their egg shells to become so thin, they would not survive incubation.

DDT was banned in 1972. The federal Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973 and bald eagles were on the list.

In 1976, the DEC started a program to repopulate the bird in New York. Young birds were imported from other states and hand-reared by biologists to independence.

The following 12 years saw 198 eagles that were not quite old enough to leave the nest collected. The majority were from Alaska.

“The eaglets were moved to suitable habitats, fed while they became accustomed to their new homes and released once they could fly. The process is called hacking” (Ferro).

The hacking program reached its goal of 10 breeding pairs by 1989, so it was ended.

Since the end of the program, the numbers have increased steadily. Of the 442 territories in the state were a nesting pair is known to have bred at least once in recent years, 180 are found in the local DEC region, which includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.

The bald eagle was taken off the federal endangered species list on Aug. 9, 2007.

New York’s own Endangered Species Program changed the bird’s status from endangered to threatened.

It is still against federal law to take; possess; sell; purchase; barter; offer to sell, purchase or barter; transport; export or import any bald or golden eagle whether they are alive or dead.

Bald Eagle numbers did not just drop because of DDT. Deforestation in order to support agriculture also played a role.

“They typically don’t nest in the middle of farm fields,” Scott Crocoll, a DEC biologist, said in an interview.

In the last 100 years, the forests have returned in abundance.

“We were extremely successful” with the restoration program, Crocoll said, “but a lot of the credit has to do with the change in habitat and the birds themselves. They have exploded.”

Source: Ferro, John. “Bald Eagles Thriving in Record Numbers in NY.” The Poughkeepsie Journal. Poughkeepsie Journal, 06 July 2017. Web. 10 Aug. 2017.