FARMINGTON -- In 1983, a single nesting pair of bald eagles called Utah home. In 2007, that number had risen to 11, according to the Center for Biodiversity in Tucson, Ariz., which tracks the population of eagles in the U.S.However, the most proficient propagating pair of bald eagles in the state can be found in the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. This pair nesting on an artificial platform on the south shore of Great Salt Lake has successfully reared 30 young since 1997.
Most of the eagles seen in Utah winter in the state, so the offspring of the Davis County pair have flown the coop.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Services estimates more than 1,200 eagles winter in the state each year. The number has been increasing in recent years, which is emblematic of the overall recovery of the raptor in the last 40 years.
In 1963, only 417 nesting eagle pairs were counted in the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
By comparison, as many as 100,000 nesting eagles thrived in 1782, when the species was adopted as a national symbol.
Hunting and loss of habitat were blamed for initial population declines, and the federal government reacted by creating the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940.
The possession, selling and killing of the species were prohibited, yet the population continued to dwindle into the 1960s.
The use of the pesticide DDT was a major factor. Chemical runoff contaminated the fish eaten by the eagles. The eagles' eggshells were weakened to the point that the shells broke during incubation, or the young failed to hatch.
The Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT in 1972, yet in 1978, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the bald eagle as endangered in 43 states and threatened in five.
That was the beginning of an American success story.
The Fish and Wildlife Service created partnerships with state organizations.
Now there are an estimated 11,000 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.
In 2007, the raptors were removed from the threatened and endangered species lists, though bald eagles in Arizona's Sonoran desert -- considered a distinct population -- are listed as threatened.
Fish and Wildlife officials list two main factors in the recovery of the bald eagle: the DDT ban and the protection of roosting, feeding and nesting sites under the Endangered Species Act.
Wildlife officials will monitor the eagles' numbers for up to 20 years to see if, at any point, the bird needs to be put back on the list.
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