Too bad they aren't fish
Bringing back the population of the Bald Eagle from 400 to 7,000 breeding pairs in 40 years is a magnificent national achievement that justifies the early environmental struggle to save them. Now, developer attorneys say that without looking into the avian mind, clearly an impossibility according to mouthpieces for growth, builders and wildlife officials will be unable to tell if construction a gated community on the banks of the Potomac will "disturb" nearby nesting Bald eagles or not.
It is important to note that about the time the campaign to save the bald eagle got underway, a similar campaign began to save the Potomac River, said at the time to be "too thick to navigate, too thin to cultivate."
If we were to imagine what was in the minds of Bald eagles soaring over the Potomac near Washington DC and its extensive suburbs, it might go something like this:
Too bad they aren't fish.
2-26-07
Washington Post
Eagles' big moment, diverted by a definition...David A. Fahrenthold
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/25/AR200702...
What could be one of the proudest moments in U.S. conservation -- the removal of bald eagles from the threatened and endangered species list -- has been delayed again as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service struggles to define a single word: disturb. But what does that mean? Annoy? Frighten? Injure? Kill? The national symbol, having overcome trophy hunting and DDT, now waits on a balky bureaucracy and a seven-letter verb. The issue could have serious effects on development along the eagle-rich Potomac... Now, environmentalists fear the government will settle on a narrow definition of "disturb" -- like one that prohibits only killing birds, injuring them or driving them from their nests. To crown the eagle's comeback, the president announced it would be formally removed from the list. President Clinton said that. In 1999. "By Feb. 16, the bald eagle will be delisted," he said. But that day came and went. Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service -- now under court order to make a decision one way or the other -- set a new deadline of June 29. One of the holdups is a big fight over a little word. The word is found in the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which will become the primary law about eagles if the birds lose threatened-species protection. It lists all the things one cannot do to the national bird: pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest, disturb. But the Fish and Wildlife Service decided that the last term needed defining before the law could be enforced. Last February, it proposed a definition: A bird would be considered "disturbed," if it was dead, injured or forced to abandon its nest. Since February 2006, the Fish and Wildlife Service has put out two federal-register notices, held two public-comment periods and compiled more than 30 pages of official reports. All to define a word that the American Heritage Dictionary sums up in nine lines. The service has promised to announce a definition next month. And no, it's not worried about defining the word that comes before "disturb" in the eagle law. Schmidt, the migratory-bird director, said it's clear to most people what "molest" means.The dictionary, of course, says it means "disturb."
What's in a word?...Monday, February 26, 2007; B04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/25/AR200702...
The removal of the bald eagle from the list of threatened and endangered species has been delayed in part because of a debate over the meaning of the word "disturb." The law says eagles should not be disturbed, but different groups have different interpretations:
American Heritage Dictionary To break up or destroy the tranquility or settled state of; to trouble emotionally or mentally; upset. To interfere with; interrupt; to intrude on; inconvenience; to put out of order; disarrange.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service To agitate or bother a bald . . . eagle to the degree that causes injury or death to an eagle (including chicks or eggs) due to interference with normal breeding, feeding or sheltering behavior, or nest abandonment.
Definition would require proof that a particular eagle had been killed, injured or forced to abandon its nest.
Center for Biological Diversity To agitate or bother a bald . . . eagle to the degree that disrupts the normal behavior of the eagle.
Definition includes actions that annoy or frighten the birds but do not harm them physically or drive them from their nests.
National Association of Home Builders A knowing or intentional annoyance or agitation that actually kills or injures a bald . . . eagle by significantly disrupting normal behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding or sheltering.
Definition would cover only instances in which the birds are killed or injured.