Interesting......

A note from The Wildlife Society relating the two linked papers above.

 
A note from The Wildlife Society relating the two linked papers above.

Hunters can fix this or have it fixed for us. Assuming the rest of the country is going to tolerate deleterious population-level impacts of the national symbol so we can keep dotting the countryside with poisoned carcasses seems far-fetched.
 
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Hunters can fix this or have it fixed for us. Assuming the rest of the country is going to tolerate declining populations of the national symbol so we can keep dotting the countryside with poison traps seems far-fetched.
What declining population?

Some serious lack of critical thinking.
 
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This study Environmental lead reduces the resilience of bald eagle populations
found that among male and female breeders, birds with Pb-toxicity exceeded
bird with no Pb exposure in northeast US states.
Pb-toxicity class was defined as one of the following Pb thresholds: blood ≥50 ug/dL (0.5 ppm), liver ≥6 ppm (wet weight), kidney ≥4 ppm (wet weight), or bone ≥20 ppm (dry weight; Pain et al. 2019)
 
Hunters can fix this or have it fixed for us.

Valid point. There are many studies on this issue going back multiple decades, it’s just a matter of time before the spotlight shines on it. Prime example is condor reintroduction efforts.


Oregon Hunters Association, in conjunction with ODFW, started a voluntary ‘get the lead out’ campaign.

https://nonleadeducation.com/welcome-to-non-lead-hunting-education/new-hunters/
 
Hunters can fix this or have it fixed for us. Assuming the rest of the country is going to tolerate deleterious population-level impacts of the national symbol so we can keep dotting the countryside with poisoned carcasses seems far-fetched.
By 2007, the federal government removed the bald eagle from the list of threatened or endangered species.

“In the past 10 years, bald eagle populations have increased fourfold,” Ruiz-Gutiérrez said.

Last winter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated bald eagle populations had soared to include 71,400 nesting pairs and more than 316,700 individual birds.

Don’t fall for the click bait.
 
This article does a better job of putting the info into perspective. The Eagle population is up from the mostly due to DDT bans. Also, "lead levels would stunt annual population growth by 3.8% in bald eagles and 0.8% in golden eagles" is not significant, but...

We know lead is bad (paint, waterfowl) and it's silly to play the "how much bad is ok?" Argument when we have solid alternatives that are still effective and do not compromise performance enough to matter.

I think we would all rather willing work this issue than pass CA-type laws...

Me and my family are switching this year.

In the great words of Starship Troopers, "I'm doing my part"
 
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