Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative Sunday, April 1, 2007 By: Kathy Wohlfort Bringing Bald Eagles Back to Vermont The Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative was initiated in 2003 through an appropriations bill sponsored by former U.S. Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT). The project is a collaborative effort with NWF, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, Outreach for Earth Stewardship and Central Vermont Public Service. The Initiative's objectives are to help establish a breeding population of eagles in the Lake Champlain Basin and strengthen public awareness of the role bald eagles and other predators play in Vermont. The three year relocation and hacking project released 29 eagles in Addison, VT, from 2004-2006. NWF and its partners continued to work together to locate breeding eagles in the Champlain Valley and educate the public about eagle conservation. Since the project's inception, one pair of adult eagles established a territory in southern Vermont. They nested for the first time in 2006, but the young did not reach fledging age.  The pair did not nest in 2007.  A second pair of eagles briefly held a territory in northern Vermont during the winter of 2006 and were seen in late winter 2007, but they did not remain during the breeding seasons.    The return of nesting eagles to Vermont is a powerful signal to all that the decades of work protecting habitat, improving water quality, and increasing public awareness are making a difference.

Vermont Peregrine Falcon Recovery Program Thursday, March 29, 2007 By: Kathy Wohlfort The peregrine falcon is one of the Endangered Species Act's biggest success stories, thanks to recovery programs like the one in NWF's northeast office. The Northeastern Natural Resource Center has been coordinating peregrine falcon recovery efforts in Vermont since 1999. Biologists work with volunteers to monitor and protect nesting cliffs during the breeding season, all in partnership with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. To determine the status of territorial peregrine falcons, occupied cliffs throughout the state are monitored from early April through late July. With landowner permission, access to some cliffs is restricted during the breeding season so as to minimize human disturbance. Annual monitoring efforts attempt to locate nests, determine breeding activity, and monitor threats. The peregrine falcon is one of the first species to be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and the species' recovery is one of the Act's greatest success stories. Peregrines were removed from the Vermont list of endangered species in 2005, but are still listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the Vermont State Wildlife Action Plan. Threats such as contaminants, human disturbance and development still threaten the long-term stability of the peregrine population in Vermont and the region. Visit NWF's peregrine falcon website for more information about the birds.