AP News, June 27th, 2007
A timeline tracking the bald eagle's history, from its brush with extinction to its recovery.
_ Pre-1776: The number of bald eagles in North America is believed to total more than 250,000; they inhabit virtually ever large river, lake or estuary region on the continent.
_ 1782: The Continental Congress puts the bald eagle onto the Great Seal of the United States, making it the country's official symbol.
_ 1850-1900: With the population's movement westward, the eagles natural habitat becomes increasingly threatened and its population declines.
_ 1900-1940: While technically protected in 1918 by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, tens of thousands of bald eagles are killed as people view them as scavengers and also shoot them for their feathers.
_ 1940: Congress passes the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the killing of bald eagles.
_ 1950s: DDT becomes widely available as an insecticide for plants and contaminates fish, killing huge numbers of adult eagles and harming the eggs that they hatched.
_ 1963: The Interior Department documents only 417 eagle nesting pairs, marking the low point for the species.
_ 1967: The eagle is declared endangered and becomes among the first species protected after Congress enacts the Endangered Species Act six years later.
_ 1972: DDT is banned for outdoor use; the eagle begins its recovery.
_ 1995: The eagle is moved from "endangered" to the less protective "threatened" category.
_ 1999: The Interior Department says the eagle has recovered sufficiently to be removed from the Endangered Species Act list.
_ June, 2007: Interior Department removes the bald eagle from Endangered Species Act protection and announces a management plan to continue the eagle's protection under other laws.
