Ecological triage brings an island back from the brink of collapse

November 21, 2006

High on a ridge on Santa Cruz Island, field biologist Dave Rempel plants his right foot on a flat rock and leans out over the cliff as far as he dares. Straining to keep his balance, he searches the treetops until a slight movement catches his gaze.

“There,” he exclaims in a sharp whisper. Two hundred yards away, in a broad nest of sticks and dried grasses, a bald eagle chick stretches its scrawny wings in the May morning sun. Six weeks old and barely half its full 14-pound potential, this bird is the culmination of a 25-year restoration program.

It is the first bald eagle born on Santa Cruz—or on any of the Channel Islands—in more than half a century.   Read more in Nature Conservancy magazine >>

For More Information:

• Where We Work: Santa Cruz Island
  

  The Nature Conservancy and its partners are engaged in an ambitious campaign to restore the crown jewel of "the Galapagos of North America," more than a century after introduced species sowed the seeds of ecological imbalance.

• Archive of our Saves of the Week and Success Stories
  Read more about The Nature Conservancy's work to save the last great places on Earth.