How are bald eagles going to be managed under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act?

The bald eagle is protected by two other federal laws: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Both laws prohibit killing, selling or otherwise harming eagles, their nests or eggs.

On June 5, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service clarified its regulations implementing the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and published a set of National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines. These actions are designed to give landowners and others clear guidance on how to ensure that actions they take on their property are consistent with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The modifications to implementing regulations for the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act established a regulatory definition of “disturb,” a term specifically prohibited as “take” by the Eagle Act. The final definition defines “disturb” as “to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, 1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior.” For more information, see the final rule defining disturb and accompanying environmental assessment.

The National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines provide a roadmap for landowners seeking to protect eagles while conducting activities on their property. The guidelines are intended to help landowners avoid violating the Eagle Act by disturbing bald eagles. For example, the guidelines recommend buffers around nests to screen nesting eagles from noise and visual distractions caused by human activities.

On June 5, 2007, the Service also opened a 90-day public comment period on a proposal to create a permit program to authorize limited “take” of bald and golden eagles where the take is associated with, and not the purpose of, otherwise lawful activities. The proposed rulemaking also contains proposed provisions to extend Eagle Act authorizations to persons authorized to take bald eagles under an ESA permit. In addition, the proposed permit would establish provisions to remove eagle nests in rare cases where their location poses a risk to human safety or to the eagles themselves, for example, in close proximity to an airport runway.

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