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MEDIA RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION Chris Smith, Media Relations Coordinator (504) 884-4008 Comeback of Bald Eagle Shows Why Endangered Species Act Should Remain Untouched MEDIA RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION Chris Smith, Media Relations Coordinator (504) 884-4008 Comeback of Bald Eagle Shows Why Endangered Species Act Should Remain Untouched BATON ROUGE (July 4, 2007) – The recent decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list is a tribute to the Endangered Species Act that gave the bird the protections it needed to survive, says Paul Orr, a Louisiana environmentalist and who serves as the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper. “The comeback of the bald eagle is a tribute to the Endangered Species Act,” says Orr. “The act has been under assault within Congress and enemies of the act have been working to weaken it, mostly by narrowing protections for species’ habitats. This should never be allowed to happen. The primary value of the act – that humans have a responsibility to provide room for other species – is unchallengable.” The act has been under attack from property right and business groups, and it is the subject of internal review at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Orr says that in 1967, there were roughly 417 breeding pairs left in the lower 48 states. Today, there are about 11,000 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. “Louisiana once had only four breeding pairs but now ranks ninth on the list with 337 pairs, including many in the swamps and marshes of St. Tammany and St. Charles parishes,” says Orr. “The Endangered Species Act works and the rebounding of the eagle population is its greatest success story.” Orr says that eagles should continue to be monitored to ensure their recovery. Also to be monitored are chemicals and fertilizers to ensure that no new poisons are created that can decimate their numbers as DDT once did. Orr says that the preservation of the Endangered Species Act is a primary concern for environmentalists and conservationists. "The act works well regarding forests where eagles currently are nesting," Orr says. "However, the act could go much farther in protecting many forests where eagles were or will be nesting. Are we protecting those? We are not." Louisiana’s eagle populations have an advantage because the state's abundance of coastal refuges, essential to the eagles' feeding and reproduction, help maintain the growth of the species. The eagle population also is little affected by hurricanes; in contrast, the brown pelican lost nearly 50 percent of its numbers after Hurricane Katrina. Orr says that about 1,000 animals and plants remain on the endangered list; another 300 are listed as threatened. "All Americans have reason to be proud," Orr says. "The bald eagle, symbol of a great nation, is once again thriving." # # # CONTACT: Paul Orr Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper (225) 205-1438 |
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