ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Threatened

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1997

CRITICAL HABITAT: 1,811,984 acres and 852 miles of Alaska shoreline designated in 2001

RECOVERY PLAN: 2002

RANGE: Eastern coastal Russia, Alaska, including the arctic coastal plain and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and the Bering Sea

THREATS: Oil and gas drilling, human-caused increases in predator populations, lead poisoning, habitat degradation, and global warming

POPULATION TREND: The current population is believed to be between 150,000 and 200,000. The majority of these birds nest in Russia. Estimates indicate that as few as 200 breeding pairs of Steller’s eiders remain in Alaska.