UW-Madison Study Finds Reason Behind Bald Eagle Recovery

Recovery Represents Successful Conservation Story, Scientist Says

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison knew the bald eagle population grew by leaps and bounds over the last 50 years. They just didn’t know why.

"One really important strategy that a number of agencies started implementing really around the 1960s, was the use of what was referred to as these buffer zones around nest sites," said Ben Zuckerberg, an associate professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the UW-Madison. "Agencies would set up areas that would generally restrict human activity."

The idea was that any human disturbance — things like hunting, hiking, fishing or boating — can agitate eagles. Scientists believed this could cause eagles to abandon their nests...