Arizona’s bald eagle population continues to soar as numbers from this year’s breeding season reached a record of 82.

Conservation efforts such as closures around nest sites have helped increase the population as the eagles are able to nest without disturbance.

Since the late 1970s, Arizona has worked on the helping the birds thrive after they were listed as an endangered species.  Though they were delisted in 2007, bald eagles are still currently protected under federal laws.

Kenneth Jacobson is a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department

“Having bald Eagles is important kind of as a piece of the ecological puzzle, but even beyond that it’s important to the American people in general to have bald eagles in their environment given that their our national bird," Jacobson said.

Though the numbers are historic, the population size is still relatively smaller than others around the U.S.