ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed; as part of the bald eagle population throughout the lower 48 states, was classified as threatened in 1973 and delisted in 2007

PETITIONED: 2004

CRITICAL HABITAT: None

RECOVERY PLAN: 1982

RANGE: Along the Salt and Verde rivers in Arizona; historically, also settled in New Mexico and Texas, west of the 100th meridian

THREATS: Development, the operation of dams, stream dewatering (particularly Prescott’s impending dewatering of the upper Verde River), public lands cattle grazing, aircraft flights, and public lands off-road vehicle corridors

POPULATION TREND: The population increased between 1970 and 2006 from three breeding pairs to 43 breeding pairs due to elimination of DDT, habitat protection, and artificial boosts to reproduction through a nest-watch and fostering program . The population is still very small, however, and population viability analyses predict that without continued protection and management, the eagle will go extinct within the next 75 years.