Bald Eagle Timeline
Genus species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- 1782 - The United States adopts the bald eagle as its national symbol. There are as many as 100,000 nesting eagles living the United States, excluding Alaska.
- 1940 - Congress passes the Bald Eagle Protection Act, making it illegal to kill, harass, possess (without a permit), or sell bald eagles.
- 1963 - Only 417 nesting pairs are found in the lower 48 states.
- 1967 - The bald eagle is officially declared an endangered species in the lower 48 states under the Endangered Species Protection Act (note: this law preceded the Endangered Species Act of 1973).
- 1972 - The Environmental Protection Agency outlaws DDT as a pesticide due to its link to the thinning of eggshells, reducing hatching success and contributinng to the eagle's endangered status.
- 1991 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service begins a five-year program to phase out the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting because of its link to lead poisoning of bald eagles.
- 1995 - The bald eagle is reclassified as "threatened" rather than "endangered".
- 1997 - A wintering population survey of the total North American population was completed and resulted in a count of 98,648 individuals, with the largest number in Alaska (44,000) and British Columbia (27,507).
- 1999 - The bald eagle is recommended for delisting.
- 2004 - The Federal Government officially announces that the bald eagle will be taken off the threatened species list. Their numbers have increased from about 450 pairs in 1963 to approximately 7,678 currently in the United States.