We networked with local, state, and federal agencies to discuss the needs of the bald eagle in Alaska.
Public safety issues were raised as documented in the Homer airport’s Wildlife Hazard Assessment.
We raised questions.
Who pays the costs of property damage by perching eagles? What are the ethics of eagle baiting? What are the impacts on the Kachemak Bay area of artificially inflating eagle populations by intentional feeding?
We filmed some of the baiters with the attitude, “I can bait anytime and anywhere I want because it’s not illegal.”
Using our own resources and “citizen science,” we counted eagles and recorded injuries. We noted how baiting attracts eagles to an area, and if a steady food supply is not available, they will find their own food.
We networked around the state with wildlife conservation organizations. Audubon Alaska was the first to support our work and stress the difference between a one-third-ounce chickadee and a 12-pound predatory eagle.
We spent several months meeting and networking with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials and the state Division of Wildlife Conservation officials.
We created an eagle education program called “Eagle Etiquette.” A “triangle” of public education, compliance and laws are necessary to address wildlife issues. Our goal was to address eagle baiting/feeding not only as a local issue but also at the state and federal level.
Our goal was to regulate eagle feeding, not “ban” it. If a compromise could be reached by placing eagles on the state’s “do not feed list” and issuing state permits to regulate this practice, we would be pleased that the commercialization of bald eagles would be limited and monitored.
Since Jean Keene has stated publicly that she does not agree with the actions of some of the eagle baiters, a compromise proposed by the local Homer Fish and Game Advisory Committee would have granted permits to those who have fed eagles for more than 25 years. The advisory committee dubbed it the “Jean Keene Amendment.” This compromise would have satisfied both sides.
Then the Board of Game denied our request to place the bald eagle on the state’s “do not feed” list.
Phil Schemph, the state raptor biologist for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, testified that USFWS supported the proposals and would work with the state. He also explained the difficulty of changing federal regulations.
The only other state to confront this issue, Maine, made its own law to regulate it. USFWS was willing to partner with the state to co-manage the bald eagle. It would have been part of Alaska history and a role model to other states as the bald eagle is delisted.
Matt Robus, director of the state Division of Wildlife Conservation, noted to the Board of Game members that they had the “power to regulate non-game species in the state.”
Kim Titus, the deputy director of the division, presented photos that demonstrated some problems with eagle baiting in different areas of the state.
Also, included in this presentation were photos of the Homer Spit that showed the negative effects of eagle baiting in a city.
Submissions to the Board of Game in favor of placing the bald eagle on the “do not feed list” included an official letter from the state of Maine presenting the problems with eagle baiting, particularly its commercialization.
Also, the Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement supported the proposals and would enforce them. Many wildlife organizations sent letters of support, including Audubon Alaska, Anchorage and Juneau Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the Lynn Canal and Taku Conservation Society, and the Alaska Center for the Environment.
Eighty percent of the numerous letters sent to the Board of Game were in favor of restricting or prohibiting eagle feeding.
We had the best support possible for this task and we were all united in our desire to prevent or curtail commercial eagle baiting in Alaska. The 24 letters supporting continued eagle baiting mostly came from people participating in baiting and profiting from it, and a few longtime supporters of the winter eagle feeding station on the Homer Spit.
We worked hard to get the state to recognize eagles in Alaska as a valuable wildlife resource that deserves a state law to protect them from this type of commercialization, injuries and mistreatment from baiting/feeding. Now the Alaska Board of Game, by its inaction, has relegated the bald eagle, our national symbol, to the status of “nuisance wildlife.”
Bald eagles deserve better than this.
Lee Mayhan is the coordinator of the Alaska Eagle Watch Network.
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