Game and Fish opens some areas closed for bald eagle breeding

April 16, 2013

The Arizona Game and Fish Department lifted restrictions on four areas closed off to allow bald eagles to breed yesterday.

bald eagle The Arizona Game and Fish Department lifted restrictions on four areas closed off to allow bald eagles to breed yesterday.(Photo by George Adrejko- Arizona Game and Fish Department )

There are 21 sites around Arizona that are cordoned off each year where eagles during breeding season which runs from December to the end of June.The four sites along the Verde River, Tonto Creek, and Lake Pleasant were re-opened to human traffic early, because the eagle pairs that nest there have not successfully produced offspring and will not for the rest of the year. 

Lynda Lambert from the state's wildlife department said it is not that the eagle pairs lost the magic.

“It is not uncommon to have a nest fail,” Lambert said. “Every year we have some fail and some produce.”

The iconic birds were removed from the endangered species list in 2009 but are still legally protected.

Lambert said the wildlife service will continue to monitor nests by helicopter to see which have eaglets in them and lift restrictions on areas where nests are empty.