'Disturb' Is Given Broader Definition

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday officially defined what it means to "disturb" a bald eagle, trying to settle a semantic debate that has helped to delay the bird's removal from the list of threatened and endangered species.

A 1940 law, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, lists all the things that people cannot do to the national symbol. Among other things -- shooting, trapping, pursuing, poisoning -- the act prohibits "disturbing" the birds.

The law could become important again if the eagles lose their protection under the Endangered Species Act. From 417 breeding pairs in 1963, the population has grown to 9,800 birds, thanks to conservation measures that include the banning of the eggshell-thinning pesticide DDT.

Environmentalists and the Fish and Wildlife Service have been arguing over how the old law, and especially its use of "disturbing," should be interpreted. The agency originally considered definitions that would limit "disturbing" to actions that caused injury, death or abandonment of a nest. Environmentalists wanted something broader.

Yesterday, the agency released a definition that took 34 pages to explain and seemed to please its critics. Officials said "disturb" would be taken to mean any action that caused injury or interfered with breeding or raising chicks -- and any action that seemed likely to cause those things.

"That's a much more protective standard" because it can be used to stop disruptive actions before birds are harmed, said Tim Male, senior ecologist for the group Environmental Defense.

The actual decision to "de-list" the eagle could come this month. The Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court order to make a decision by June 29.

"We'll meet that deadline," said H. Dale Hall, the Fish and Wildlife Service's director, in a telephone news conference yesterday.