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NEW YORK, Jun 28 (OneWorld) - As federal authorities declared today that the bald eagle is no longer on the list of threatened species, environmental activists and conservation groups across the United States expressed joy with the fruition of efforts to save the national symbol from extinction.

© John and Karen Hollingsworth, US Fish and Wildlife Service Image Library"It's great news," Tom Lalley, spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) told OneWorld. "The bald eagle's recovery from the edge of extinction is one of the world's great conservation success stories," added Kieran Suckling of the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity.

The bald eagle, which is America's national symbol, was declared endangered in 1967 under a law that preceded the Endangered Species Act.

People hunted and poisoned eagles in many parts of the country until 1940 when Congress passed a law to protect them. A vast population of eagles continued to disappear for many years, however, largely due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT.

Conservationists estimate that by 1963 only 417 pairs of bald eagles were left in the continental United States. Congress banned most uses of DDT in 1972, and then the eagles began to rebound.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) also took effective measures to protect habitat and reintroduce eagles in areas where they had been extirpated. The authorities changed the eagle's status from endangered to "threatened" in 1995 to reflect its growing number.

"It is a true success story and the reflection of the concern Americans have for the environment," said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy about the decision to delist the eagle.

"The Endangered Species Act works," he added in a statement. "Because of this safety net, a flourishing legacy could be passed to future generations."

Currently, the bald eagle population in the lower 48 states and Washington, DC is a little over 11,000 pairs. The growth in numbers includes an increase of nearly 1,300 pairs from last year's estimate of about 9,780, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Experts on the history of bird species in North America say there were at least half a million bald eagles in the United States when the Pilgrims arrived in 1620. Despite having been declared a national symbol in 1782, the bird suffered from terrible abuses due to the mistaken belief that it was predator.

It was fed to hogs in Maine, shot from airplanes in California, poisoned in South Dakota, and hunted under a 50-cent bounty in Alaska, according to researchers at the Center for Biological Diversity.

The Center has also collected the annual eagle counts in each state from 1967 to 2007 and provides a brief review of each state's conservation history on its Web site. Experts at the Center say such information has never before been collected in a single repository.

"The [Endangered Species Act] is now itself endangered" - Tom Lalley, World Wildlife Fund

In addition to bald eagles, almost half of the bird species listed under the Endangered Species Act have seen substantial growth in their populations over the past few years. They include the brown pelican, peregrine falcon, Aleutian Canada goose, California candor, San Clemente loggerhead shrike, and whooping crane.

After delisting, bald eagles will remain under the protection of many state regulations and a federal law passed in 1940.

Environmentalists say they hope that the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act will continue to remain in place as the principle safeguard for bald eagles after they are removed from the endangered species list.

Fenwick's group lauded the Fish and Wildlife Service for working "cooperatively" with national conservation organizations in ensuring that bald eagles, though no longer on the threatened species list, will receive appropriate federal protection.

"All Americans have reason to be proud," said Fenwick, "because our national symbol, the bald eagle, is thriving."

Like Fenwick, WWF's Tom Lalley is appreciative of federal authorities' efforts to save the bald eagle. But he remains concerned about the future for other animals, particularly as the U.S. political climate has grown increasingly hostile to the Endangered Species Act, often to make way for developers and other commercial interests.

In a decision seen as a victory for developers over environmentalists, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that the protections provided by the Endangered Species Act must now take a back seat to other federal regulations.

"The Endangered Species Act is our nation's strongest law for protecting species on the brink of extinction," Lalley said. "But the law is now itself endangered, and if there are to be more success stories like the bald eagle, the law must remain strong."

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