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Builder Accounts Sought on Experiences With Eagles
 With the bald eagle poised to be taken off the endangered species list on June 29, NAHB is seeking information from home builders on their experiences on projects near eagle nesting sites. The association is also working to determine what impact a permitting program to manage the eagle would have on builders.
With the delisting of the eagle from the endangered list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is expected to initiate a rulemaking process to create a permitting program for construction activities under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Federal regulators have two tasks yet to complete: finalizing the proposed National Bald Eagle Management Guidelines and defining the term “disturb” under the act.
These documents will provide appropriate continuing protection for the bald eagle after the long-anticipated final delisting, and NAHB is working with regulators at the FWS and with other interested parties, including environmental groups, to ensure that their provisions will not unduly impede new home construction and erode affordability.
Bald eagle numbers have been increasing in the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region, the Chesapeake Bay area and Florida, and interactions between builders and eagles may rise in those areas after the delisting.
NAHB has written to FWS describing the concerns of its members over the management guidelines and changes to the act. “Although we seek to continue to protect the bald eagle — and our actions over the past 40 years clearly demonstrate this — we also seek clarity and simplicity in the final guidelines,” said Mike Mittelholzer, NABH assistant staff vice president for regulatory policy.
Specifically, NAHB wants the guidelines to ensure that:
- Builders understand exactly what actions are prohibited
- Requirements for protection or mitigation are not too costly
- Good-faith efforts by builders are recognized as such and that builders and developers who follow the law will not be liable for construction or development activities that result in the unintended death or injury of the bird
NAHB also asked for clarification of the word “disturb” in the regulations, pointing out that it is almost meaningless in describing construction activities that might actually be harmful to the eagle. Many bald eagles, it noted, remain unharmed despite construction, as demonstrated in the case of birds proliferating along the Potomac River in the vicinity of the construction of the eight-lane Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, D.C.
“What happens if a developer or builder who is doing everything possible to avoid killing or injuring a bald eagle then finds himself in enforcement difficulty because the eagle abandoned its nest for reasons that may be completely unrelated to the construction activity?” asked Mittleholzer. “There are many reasons why an eagle may move to another nest — perhaps the fishing is better there — but that would be considered nest abandonment, which is covered under the proposed definition of ‘disturb.’”
“It’s one thing to talk about these proposals in the abstract and quite another to see how they play out in real life,” he said. “We need those stories so the voting public can identify with the experiences of builders and home owners — and thus influence future policy.”
For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.
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