American Bald Eagles - First Hatch is Imminent in Decorah, Iowa - Watch an Eaglet Being Born on Ustream.TV

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Decorah Eagles

Total views: 6,869,495First hatch is imminent. It could occur anytime today.

The Raptor Resource Project brings you the Decorah Eagles from atop their tree at the fish hatchery in Decorah, Iowa.

Runway Rumble: Environmental Activists Don't Want JFK's Airport Expansion Into Jamaica Bay to Take Off by Alex Rush - YourNabe.com

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Environmental activists say a proposal to fill in an area roughly two-and-a-half times the size of Governors Island off the coast of John F. Kennedy Airport to build new runways in protected Jamaica Bay would be damaging to sea life, hurt the local fishing industry, and have repercussions as far away as Floyd Bennett Field.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s most drastic plan to reduce bottlenecks at the airport while adding up to 70 flights an hour would install three runways on what is now the bay — a portion of the Gateway National Recreation area — and some think the plan is nuts.

“We’re organizing to fight this lame-brained idea,” said Brighton Beach resident Ida Sanoff, who chairs the marine conservation group Natural Resources Protective Association. “No one in their right mind will let 400 acres of Jamaica Bay be filled in for any reason.”

Even the organization involved with formulating the new runway plan admits to its environmental downside.

The Regional Plan Association, an independent organization that monitors transit issues in the metropolitan area, released a report on Jan. 27 saying that the extra runways would let the Queens’ airport handle millions of additional passengers, but would most likely involve the “disruption to the environment, requiring the Port Authority to regenerate and restore wetlands that have eroded or been eliminated in Jamaica Bay.” The planners also concluded that the fill could destroy marine life near Floyd Bennett Field in Mill Basin, about six miles away.

But environmentalists think things could get much worst — both naturally and financially.

“It will hurt the migratory pattern of birds and fish that breed there and could even weaken the area’s flood protection,” Sanoff said.

A local fisherman agreed.

“The runways will not only hurt our access to the fish, but they’ll take away what the fish survive on,” said Stephen Byrne, who captains chartered fishing boats in Jamaica Bay and is a spokesman for the Fishermen’s Conservation Association. “Airport expansion is important, but recreational fishing is an important industry, too.”

The Port Authority has three additional expansion proposals that are less drastic. One calls for only two additional runways and would fill in about half the amount of Jamaica Bay, and two other plans require little to no fill, but would build runways that can only be navigated by a new, yet-to-be-approved traffic system, according to Regional Plan Association spokesman Jeffery Zupan, who pointed out that approval of the expansion of the airport could take some time.


“Picking the expansion plan to implement will be a political process in which all the stakeholders have to agree, including the Port Authority, the Federal Aviation Administration — and environmental groups,” Zupan said.

The Bald Eagle Making An Impressive Comeback In New York State | wgrz.com

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The history of the Bald Eagle in North America is a mixed one, at best. Despite being revered as the national bird and regarded as a symbol of America's power, this beautiful predator was driven to the brink of extinction.

In New York State, a number of factors led to the near disappearance of the eagle. Hunting, habitat loss, and the deadly insecticide DDT brought the state's population to one single eagle in 1975!

Three decades later, the eagle is enjoying a strong revival. The NY Department of Environmental Conservation reports near record numbers throughout the state, including in Western New York.

Kenneth Roblee is a Senior Wildlife Biologist with the DEC. He says, "This year, we in this region came up with a total of 51, this is a record total for our mid-winter count, and we may also end up with a record total count for the state." Loretta Jones, Founder of Hawk Creek Wildlife Center, adds, "We actually led the country in the re-introduction of Bald Eagles in the Lower 48 states, which is amazing, because we were down to one Bald Eagle...one."

As an apex predator, the eagle helps maintain an important balance of mammals and birds within natural communities, and may serve as a bellwether to human society as well. Roblee tells us, "We can end up with nuisance problems, with some species becoming too numerous, it can result in over-browsing of certain plant communities, so we need top predators, and the Bald Eagle is an important one."

Jones agrees, "The Bald Eagles are on the top of the food chain, and one of the most important things they do, is they're great barometers, they're great markers of the environment, and they let us know what we are doing to poison ourselves and our children, and that's really important!"

Even though news for the Bald Eagle is good for now, the species is not out of the woods yet. Threats such as disease, pollution, and even wind turbines pose a danger to this powerful yet fragile bird, and vigilance needs to be kept to guarantee the Bald Eagle continues to fly free.

"The test of our mettle will be if we can keep them here at these numbers," says Roblee. "We do need to be vigilant, not just for the Bald Eagle, but for many other species that require seclusion and specific habitat set asides."