Protect the Bald Eagles at the Brown County Fairgrounds

According to a Bald Eagle nest survey, there were 1695 occupied Eagles nests in Wisconsin last year. 8 of those occupied nests are in Brown County. One of those nests is at the Brown County Fairgrounds. I cite this because I believe it highlights just how precious this gift is – to have bald eagles so close and to be able to watch them fly and hunt and raise their offspring. You would be amazed watching an adult eagle feed its eaglet and watch how gentle it is with its young - Or watching an eaglet take its first flight. Very few communities have this beautiful display of nature, and my hope is that we don’t ever take this gift for granted. My hope is that we take proactive measures to protect this nation’s most majestic symbol.

Brown County has recently indicated that they intend to develop and use the Fairgrounds more, which is wise because it is a beautiful park and campground.

The pair of eagles who occupy that nest in the Brown County Fairgrounds have been there for at least 5 years. The nest itself has been there for at least 20 years. Each year, it draws more and more people who want to get a glimpse of a Bald Eagle in the wild. It is a powerful experience.

The eagles who occupy the nest at the Fairgrounds have tolerated certain human interaction and appear to be generally undisturbed by the motorcycle, car, and truck traffic on Ashland Avenue and Broadway. They appear to be generally undisturbed by the train that uses the tracks just West of their nest. They appear to be generally undisturbed by the traffic of the boats at the landing and in the water. They appear to tolerate loud music coming from the buildings during occasional special events. These are things that are common occurrences. The National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines (2007) state that “Eagles are unlikely to be disturbed by routine use of roads, homes, and other facilities where such use pre-dates the eagles’ successful nesting activity in a given area.”

The National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines have outlined activity-specific guidelines for avoiding bald eagle disturbance as a result of new or intermittent activities. Activities are separated into 8 categories, A-H base on the nature and magnitude of impacts to bald eagles that usually result from the type of activity.
In most cases, the impact of the activity will vary based on the visibility of the activity from the eagle nest and the degree to which similar activities ARE ALREADY occurring in proximity to the nest site. Visibility is a factor because, in general, eagles are more prone to disturbance when an activity occurs in full view. While the eagles in the fairground nest can tolerate a greater degree of human activity, they have not experienced fireworks up close.
As you know, this past Memorial Day weekend, Celebrate De Pere occurred at the Brown County Fairgrounds. This was the first year for them to be there. Carl Castelic indicated in an email to me that Celebrate De Pere organizers had the “approval of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the WI DNR, Brown County, and the City of De Pere. He states that the local DNR agent and a US Fish and Wildlife Eagle Biology expert out of Bloomington, Minnesota that the fireworks buffer was a half mile so they were working off of that and taking in other considerations like how this Eagle is “urbanized and she does not have chicks this year.”
As noted previously, the fact that the Fairground eagles are “urbanized” is irrelevant. Fireworks are not part of their’ urban daily living environment. Fireworks is one of the specific loud, intermittent noises highlighted in Category H of the National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines.

Category H directs us to avoid blasting and other activities that produce extremely loud noises within ½ mile of active nests. While the eagles have demonstrated a tolerance of traffic and people, they have not demonstrated a greater tolerance of fireworks.

So, Celebrate De Pere was “working off of the ½ mile buffer – taking into account the fact that this eagle pair is urbanized and does not have eaglets this year. My question is: What will Celebrate De Pere do next year when the eagle pair has eaglets? The danger of a young eaglet being startled and falling out of the nest is a real possibility. It has happened, usually with tragic consequences.
Celebrate De Pere has established a precedent that is reckless and irresponsible. The distance they went off of was supposed to have been ½ mile, which is 2640 feet. The actual buffer zone they used was 1681 feet and 7 inches. I measured it. I bought one of those measuring wheels and I measured it. Twice.

They were 959 feet short of the distance that was required. That’s more than 3 football fields. That was only 63% of what was directed by the guidelines.
The spirit of the law is to MINIMIZE DISTURBANCE. It is not to accommodate human entertainment.

Fast forward to today – there is an event scheduled at the Fairgrounds this September 14th. The contact person for this event indicated that they only need a 660 foot buffer for setting off fireworks. This is clearly not accurate according to the National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines, and I believe someone needs to intervene to stop this and further events with fireworks at the Fairgrounds. There are plenty of other venues in the area from which to have a fireworks display.

There is not a space within the confines of the Fairground property that would provide a ½ mile buffer zone from fireworks to nest. Therefore, I encourage and request that the use of fireworks be prohibited at the Fairgrounds. You have an opportunity to protect the majestic bird that is the symbol of this nation. I hope you make the most of it and put the Eagles’ safety above a handful of events that endangers them for the sole purpose of brief human entertainment.