It鈥檚 mud season in eastern Idaho. Winter is over. The reservoirs are filling, the ground is greening and the eagles are returning.
These birds are why researcher Michael Whitfield is in the woods.
鈥淓very spring there鈥檚 that anticipation of seeing if such-and-such eagle is still around,鈥� says Whitfield, the principal Idaho researcher at the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Project. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e successfully nesting and if they survive.鈥�
Whitfield keeps track of more than 80 eagle nests. He also pays attention to how these raptors die. Collisions with cars or power lines are the most common reason. But there鈥檚 another, more sinister cause: People kill them for money. They poison them or shoot the eagles, then collect their bodies.
Regardless how an eagle dies, federal law prohibits people from possessing any of its body parts. That applies to an eagle that was poisoned or an eagle carcass someone happened upon during a walk in the woods.
And yet, Rob Cavallaro of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game sees evidence every day that people are disregarding that law.
鈥淢aking a wildlife case is extremely difficult,鈥� says Dan Rolince, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement supervisor. 鈥淭ypically the victim does not have the opportunity to call you and tell you something happened.鈥�
Case evidence ends up at the . It holds more than a million pieces of evidence from wildlife trafficking cases handled nationwide. Half of the repository is dedicated just to eagles and eagle parts.
Of all the evidence at the repository, only the remains of eagles are repurposed.
鈥淲hen we get boxes in, which happens every day, one of our staff members will evaluate the condition of that bird and determine which part, or
When poachers are caught, jail time is not long term. Operation Rolling Thunder was one of the agency鈥檚 biggest eagle cases. The 12 people convicted for wildlife trafficking went to jail for a total of 55 months. That鈥檚 an average of four and a half months per person. Rolince says he鈥檚 not deterred by the short sentences.
鈥淚 firmly believe the emphasis we are placing on large-scale trafficking is having a positive effect,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we have to get out there and just keep digging.鈥�
In eastern Idaho, Whitfield keeps banding birds, hoping his hands are the last hands that ever touch a wild eagle.
鈥淧eople recognize the bald eagle for the majesty that it is,鈥� Whitfield says. 鈥淭he fact that it鈥檚 our national symbol wasn鈥檛 an accident. Bald eagles are symbols of the wildness of this place. I think we need to do all we can to sustain this resource.鈥�
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Courtesy Kris Millgate/Tightline Media
/Bud Alford, retired U.S. Forest Service biologist holds an eaglet while Michael Whitfield, Greater Yellowstone Project principal researcher, measures the bird鈥檚 beak.
Kris Millgate, EarthFix
/Eagle carcasses are sent to the National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository near Denver, Colorado. The repository received more than 2,300 eagles in 2014.
Kris Millgate
/Eagle feathers and parts are sent to the National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository for redistribution to Native Americans for ceremonial use.
Kris Millgate, EarthFix
/The National Eagle and Wildlife Property Repository filled almost 4,000 eagle orders in 2014. Order requests come from Native Americans on a first come first serve basis. There is a five-year wait for some color-specific feather requests.