One day this spring when the carp were spawning near the spillway of Pymatuning Lake in Crawford County, Jack Christman looked through his spotting scope and counted 20 bald eagles.

		Graphic: Eagle nests in Pennsylvania

That's at one time, without moving the scope's field of view.

So it's no surprise to Mr. Christman that today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will remove the bald eagle from the federal Endangered Species Act threatened list. The official announcement by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne is scheduled for this morning -- just in time for the Fourth of July holiday -- at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"I've been going up to Linesville at the spillway two or three times a week for 20 years to look at the eagles and they really have increased in number," said the 63-year-old Mr. Christman of Greenville, Mercer County. "Crawford County has 15 nests now and at one time only had two, so they've made a pretty good comeback."

According the Fish and Wildlife Service, there are now more than 11,000 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. As recently as 1963, there were only 417 breeding pairs.

The feathered national symbol, for more than 200 years gracing everything from money to stamps to government coats of arms and logos, was upgraded from federally endangered to threatened in 1995.

Although the bald eagle will no longer be a "listed" species, it will continue to be protected under new regulations implementing the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibit disturbing eagle nests or trading in eagle parts.

The comeback of the eagle has been accomplished through the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act, and the dovetailing of federal and state eagle reintroduction programs, improved water quality which increased the quality and number of fish that eagles eat, and the elimination of some pesticides, like DDT, that hurt eagle reproduction. DDT was banned in the United States in 1972 and the eagles began to rebound.

Part of that recovery has occurred in Pennsylvania, where the state Game Commission now counts 120 nests in the state, a dramatic increase from the three nests counted in 1983.

That year the Game Commission started a seven-year reintroduction program that brought in 88 eaglets from wilderness nests in Saskatchewan, Canada, to restock the population.

"The bald eagle's comeback should put a smile on the face of every Pennsylvanian, because so many of us care about them," said Carl Roe, Game Commission executive director. "It's obvious in the way people respond to news about the eagle's return, and from their excitement when they see one. Eagles matter. A lot."

Jerry Feaser, a Game Commission spokesman, said the bald eagle is listed as a state threatened species and the commission does not have plans to change that.

"We applaud what's happening at the national level," Mr. Feaser said, acknowledging the recovery of one of the nation's largest birds of prey, "but we are not planning any action in response to the federal action."

Despite the bald eagle's resurgence in the state, winter storms on Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, plus cold and in some places freezing temperatures in April, played havoc with eagle's nests this year, said Doug Gross, Game Commission ornithologist.

He said several nests were damaged and blown down and the cold weather may have reduced the 80 percent nest success rate the birds enjoyed last year.

Bald eagle nests have been identified in 40 of the state's 67 counties, including 22 new nesting territories in Bucks, Elk, Fayette, Jefferson, Philadelphia and Wyoming counties. The state's largest concentrations occur in the wetlands of Crawford, Mercer and Erie counties, including Pymatuning Lake; along the lower Susquehanna River in Chester, Lancaster and York counties; the Poconos and upper Delaware River region; and along the upper Allegheny River in and around the Allegheny National Forest.

"They're thriving in Pennsylvania. There's more than twice as many there now than there was when I started going," said John Ellsworth, 71, a retiree from Meadville who has been visiting Pymatuning to watch the birds about twice a week for 11 years.

"I don't disagree with the delisting. They're still fully protected. I think they'll do OK as long as we can keep people from messing with them, and most people are inclined to protect them."

More information on the bald eagle population in Pennsylvania can be found on the Game Commission Web site at www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=458&q=152498