UpperDelaware.com
Upper Delaware area pictures
Resources  |   Articles  |   About Us  |   Contact
Visioning the Upper Delaware River Corridor   
Still endangered?

By Stephanie Streeter

As I worked on another injured bald eagle at the Delaware Valley Raptor Center (DVRC) this past July, I felt both blessed and cursed. Blessed because I have had the rare good fortune of working with eagles, and after 28 years of caring for birds of prey, that first sight of an eagle still makes my heart beat a little faster and my breath catch. Cursed because the eagles I see, more often than not, are in critical condition, many bleeding, emaciated and unable to stand.

The eagle that started my reflections on how and why eagles are injured was a bird I picked up on July 3 along the Lackawaxen River in Lackawaxen, PA. When we examined the eagle at the DVRC clinic, we found a bird that was emaciated, with an old, already fused break at the elbow joint of the left wing. X-rays confirmed the physical findings as well as the cause of the fracture: the eagle had been shot. Shotgun pellets were still lodged in the shattered joint and in the muscle of the left leg. The prognosis was clear; the eagle would never fly again; it would spend the rest of its life (potentially 45 more years) in captivity. Because the eagle was wearing leg bands, it could be positively identified. It was a New York-hatched bird, a four-year-old male banded at four weeks of age in the Cole Flats nest it had shared with two siblings.

I wondered if the person that shot this eagle had considered the full ramifications of his/her actions. The shooter had not only reduced New York’s bald eagle population instantly by one, but had also removed from the wild an eagle on the cusp of breeding age. How many young eagles would not be produced over the next 10 to possibly 20 years because some thoughtless person had satisfied a momentary urge to blow an eagle out of the sky?

As I sat down at the computer to fill out this eagle’s chart, I sighed as I checked off the cause of injury, the “gunshot confirmed” box. Over the years we have had eagles, both bald and golden, admitted for various reasons, first-year birds starving because they had not mastered their hunting skills, lead poisoning, vehicle impact and even collisions with trains. But was being shot the primary reason for eagles being admitted to the Delaware Valley Raptor Center? I decided to check our records. The sad answer is “yes.”

We celebrated this Fourth of July with the announcement that the bald eagle has been removed from the federal endangered species list. But perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to celebrate. As long as eagles that live and winter in our area are being shot, they are still endangered.

What can we do about it? The first step is involvement. Teach your children that it is not only illegal to shoot an eagle; it is wrong. Make sure anyone you know who possesses a firearm knows that the maximum penalty for shooting an eagle under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is two years in a federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine, and often, at the judge’s discretion, a public apology as well. Ask them to tell their friends. All eagle shootings are investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife law enforcement division. Pleas, often with offers of a reward, are made by law enforcement officials via the media for anyone with information about an eagle shooting to come forward. Tips are kept anonymous, yet most folks are reluctant. I suppose most of us would have to wrestle with our conscience if a friend or family member were the shooter.

We cherish the Upper Delaware and Pocono Mountain area for its amazing natural beauty, its pristine waterways, beautiful mountains and diversity of wildlife. Many of us are working to protect and preserve it, as we should. That same protection and preservation must be extended to the bald eagle, because all who live here are truly blessed by the presence of this bird. We owe it to ourselves, but especially to the bird that is the symbol of our country, to keep the bald eagle off an endangered species list of our own making.

(Stephanie Streeter established the Delaware Valley Raptor Center in Milford, PA in 1987.)

October 29, 2009
WES GILLINGHAM: The Catskills' future is up to us
September 3, 2009
JEFFREY MOORE: Destroying it won't 'save'it
August 6, 2009
BARBARA LEWIS: Trees: a legacy and a future
July 9, 2009
SARAH CUTLER: Share the road
June 11, 2009
SUSAN SCOTT: The democratization of information
May 14, 2009
MICHAEL CHOJNICKI: A turning point
April 16, 2009
JOHN CONWAY: Dual-mode transportation
March 19,2009
KEITH LEPAN: NY H2O
February 19, 2009
JEFFREY SEEDS: One-sidedness
January 17, 2009
TOM HOLMES: Taking back the power
December 25, 2008
TINA PALACEK: When a community is really a family


November 27, 2008
STEPHANIE TURNER: Gas drilling from a realtor's perspective
October 30, 2008
SUSAN SULLIVAN: From visiong to reality: the role of local government
October 2, 2008
MARY BETH WOOD: Investing in career and technical education
September 4, 2008
JOE LEVINE: When compromise is a recipe for disaster
August 7, 2008
VIDAL MARTINEZ: The Upper Delaware experience
July 10, 2008
WES GILLINGHAM: Sticking together
June 12, 2008
LINDA COBB: The Harmony Project
May 15, 2008
Barbara Arrindell: Looking back
April 17, 2008
JO CLEARWATER: Welcome to the new world
March 20, 2008
JONATHAN F. ROUIS: Out of many, one
February 21, 2008
MIKE URETSKY: Mired in gas
January 24, 2008
Some visionaries look at 2008
October 4, 2007
Greg Swarz: Coming Home
September 6, 2007
Jim Serio: Educating the Delaware River Basin
August 9, 2007
Stephanie Streeter: Still endangered?
July 26, 2007
Molly Rodgers: Be informed, be connected
July 12, 2007
Brad Krumholz: The landscape mind
June 28, 2007
John Bunting: Milk price and power
June 14, 2007
Brian Smith: It's time to work and worry
May 31, 2007
Carol Roig: Celebrating history close to home
May 17, 2007
Debbie Smorto: Be a part of the solution
April 19, 2007
Robert Dadras: Creating a new direction for Sullivan County
April 5, 2007
Dave Williams: Save your local dairy farm
March 22, 2007
R.A. Dubensky: Losing our future
March 8, 2007
Dave Williams: Save your local dairy farm
February 22, 2007
Troy Bystrom: Conserve to preserve
February 8, 2007
Alegra Jennings: Do you see what I see?
January 18, 2007
Amy Gruzesk: A new alliance for business in Pike
January 11, 2007
Grace Wildermuth: Our rural environment must be preserved


December 28, 2006
John Jose: Meeting the challenges of stormwater management
December 14, 2006
Daniel Kennedy: Making memories in Pike County
November 30, 2006
Stephen Stuart: Sustainable Solutions
November 16, 2006
Linda Cobb: The Harmony Project
November 2, 2006
Judy Harlan: What municipalities can do about flooding
October 19, 2006
Samuel Jackson: Walking the talk
October 5, 2006
Jay Epstein: The foundations of a viable plan
September 14, 2006
Tom Kane: The clean water act
September 7, 2006
Skip Mendler: A community of communities
August 24, 2006
FREDERICA LEIGHTON: Flood reality: vision or the lack of it
August 10, 2006
DICK RISELING: A vision of actions
July 27, 2006
PAT CARULLO AND MARCIA NEHEMIAH: Red plus blue equals green
July 13, 2006
Neal Halloran: Greenway: a program whose time has come
June 29, 2006
Steven Sharoff: Strong visions can change the world
June 15, 2006
Heinrich Strauch: Cooking up a vision
June 1, 2006
Jennifer C.S. Brylinski: The IDA keeps to its vision
May 18, 2006
Norma and Bob Santee: Maintaining our environment
May 4, 2006
Don Parry: The “vision thing”
April 20, 2006
Joe Walsh: Keeping farms a mainstay of Sullivan County
April 6, 2006
Heather Brown: Why I came here, and what keeps me here
March 23, 2006
Pat Carullo: We are with the program
March 09, 2006
Helen Budrock: The power of proactive thinking
February 23, 2006
Carol Collier: A basin-wide collaboration
February 9, 2006
Barbara Leo: A birding trail for the Upper Delaware
January 26, 2006
Virginia Kennedy: Our vision—economic and environmental sustainability
January 12, 2006
Tom Zeterburg: At the crossroads of two rivers
December 29, 2005
Sally Corrigan: Hallmarks of a successful community
December 15, 2005
“Better Models for Development” scores a hit - a compilation by Tom Kane and the Visioning Committee
December 1, 2005
Brian Stuart: Protecting an amazing backyard resource
November 17, 2005
John LiGreci: The need for a master plan
November 3, 2005
Tom Kane: The need for intelligent land use practices
October 20, 2005
Michael Chojnicki: The need for intelligent land use practices
October 6, 2005
Alan Schadt: The Town of Highland through a crystal ball
September 22, 2005
Ernie Mattern: Comprehensive Planning in Damascus
September 8, 2005
Jerry DaBrescia: Visioning in Hancock
August 25, 2005
Neal Halloran: Ways to secure open space
August 11, 2005
Clem Fullerton: Flow woes
August 11, 2005
Tom Kane: Options for preserving open space
July 28, 2005
Charlie Buterbaugh: Fishing Days Gone
July 28, 2005
George Fluhr: What's special about this place
June 30, 2005
Tom Kane: There are many visions in the river valley
June 30, 2005
Mary Curtis: My vision for the Upper Delaware River
June 16, 2005
Sarah Sutto-Plunz: It depends on us
June 16, 2005
Green buildings: a healthy revolution in the construction industry
June 2, 2005
Pat Carullo: If horses can fly, rivers can speak!
May 19, 2005
Laurie Stuart: A view from the ridge
April 21, 2005
Rosie Starr: Preserving the Beauty of the Delaware River Valley
April 7, 2005
Robert Burrow: Developing a plan takes study
March 24, 2005
Tom Kane: Comprehensive Plan: The Key to the Future
March 10, 2005
Katharine Dodge: We have a choice: aggressiveness or fairness
February 24, 2005
Editorial: A tide in the affairs of men
February 24, 2005
Jim Greier: Let’s not put our eggs in one basket
February 10, 2005
Elliot Zucker: A voice for private property rights
January 27, 2005
Steve Daley : Visions of business growth and home ownership
January 13, 2005
Laura Quigley : Living and working in the land of plenty
December 30, 2004
Dr. Martin Handler : My list of visions
December 16, 2004
Dr. Bruce Getzan : Bringing harmony to contrasting visions
December 2, 2004
Sally Talaga : Visioning’s first step
November 18, 2004
Michele Ulmer : Be involved before it’s too late
November 4, 2004
Marcia Nehemiah: It's all about the river
October 21, 2004
John Drobysh: Balancing preservation with property rights
October 7, 2004
Jeffrey Moore: Raising the standards in the river valley
September 23, 2004
Dimitri Zaimes: The right and wrong of the Upper Delaware September 9, 2004
Frederica Leighton: Combining hindsight, foresight, present awareness and action
August 26, 2004
Krista Gromalski: Turning the Conversation Up
August 12, 2004
Jo Clearwater: Visioning
July 29, 2004
Noel Van Swol: What about Property Rights?
July 15, 2004
Cindy Wildermuth: A call for stewardship
July 1, 2004
Tom Kane: Taking stock of the visioning process
June 17, 2004
Dick Riseling: Sustainability and justice is at the heart of vision
June 3, 2004
Peter Pinchot: Exurban sprawl or livable communities?