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Bald Eagle to Be Taken Off Endangered List
Edmund Contoski of Minneapolis filed the lawsuit that prompted the delisting of bald eagles. A nest on property he owns meant he could not follow through with plans to subdivide the land.
(By Peter Slevin -- The Washington Post)
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Taking it off the list has proved difficult, to say the least. The Clinton administration left office without taking action. The Bush administration promised to move on it, but those efforts also lagged.
Amid the often conflicting agendas of politics, preservation and development, experts say what now makes a compromise likely is the unexpected resilience of the eagle population and a consensus that regulations should be clear but flexible.
Environmentalists and eagle fans want to be sure eagles and sufficient habitats are protected. Developers, investors and others want continued access to building permits via various exceptions and tradeoffs that are not allowed under the laws that would take precedence if the eagle were delisted.
"Ultimately, what we're trying to work toward is ensuring, if the bald eagle is taken off the list, people won't see that much of a change," said Chris Tollefson, chief spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Rules are being polished, for example, to define activities permitted near eagle habitats and what can be done near nests that eagles are not using. A debate has been underway over what it means to "disturb" an eagle, a crucial but imprecise word in the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
"The bottom line is the delisting has been working its way through the process for a long time," said Kostyak, who said of Contoski, "Give him credit for getting a deadline imposed."
As for Contoski's fortunes, he considers it unlikely that anything will change, especially now that the eagles have returned.
He is contemplating another lawsuit, this time against the remaining laws.
"From his point of view, it may be a Pyrrhic victory," said Michael J. Bean, who leads wildlife conservation efforts for Environmental Defense. "But from an eagle's point of view, it's a good thing to recognize it has recovered."
Staff writer Juliet Eilperin in Washington contributed to this report.
