Project Purpose:

• To collect data about eagles and other wildlife in areas known for use by wintering
   bald eagles.

• To collect data about the people who come to see those eagles.

• To provide education and interpretation of the resource for those visitors.

Background:

EAGLE WATCH! is a volunteer program designed to provide the safest and least intrusive eagle viewing opportunities in the Delaware River Highlands and Mongaup River watersheds in Sullivan County, NY, and Pike County, PA, where bald eagles are known to winter.
It is a program of The Eagle Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of bald eagles and other birds of prey.

More than 100 bald eagles migrate to this region each winter in search of open water, fresh fish and undisturbed habitat where they can safely roost. Publicity about the eagles brings an ever-increasing number of people who want to see them. Eagle Watch! provides those people with the information they need to safely view the eagles without disturbing them.

Volunteers are taught basic biological and habitat needs of the wintering eagles, history of the eagle in this region and other information to help them answer the most frequently asked questions. The volunteer handbook includes emergency contacts and logistics/geographic information about the region.

The volunteers are instructed to collect data about the eagles and other wildlife and about the visitor, including where they come from and how they learned about the area. This information can be used for planning and resource management purposes. The volunteers provide an interpretive and educational role; they are not responsible for enforcement issues.

Where and When:

Two sites have been identified as the most popular viewing areas:

1. The Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area (including the observation blind at Mongaup Falls Reservoir, the Rio Reservoir and the Rio Dam).

2. The Upper Delaware River and its tributaries, including pull-off spots and parking areas along Route 97 from (Pond Eddy to Callicoon, the parking lot at the Zane Grey Museum in Lackawaxen, Pa., and the Lackawaxen River from Hawley to the
Delaware River.)

3. Volunteers staffed the Mongaup observation blind and the Delaware River at the Zane Grey Museum parking area and, whenever possible, visited the other locations during their shifts.

Two-3-hour shifts from 10am – 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays from January 2 — March 15 were scheduled. However, inclement weather, personal commitments, a vacation and a scheduling conflict left some shifts unstaffed.

Acknowledgements:

This program could not be accomplished without the support of many partners. First, we would like to thank the volunteers who donated many hours of time and endured less-than-optimum weather conditions (zero degrees, heavy rain, ice, sleet and snow!) to make sure we accomplished what we set out to do.

We’d also like to thank the National Park Service, Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, for providing the convenient office and meeting space, and for coordinating the Eagle Watch! Program through the Volunteers in Parks program, which insured the volunteers while staffing the Delaware River sites.

Thanks also to:

• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for insuring the Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area volunteers through the DEC stewardship program and for fiscal support.

• Orange & Rockland Utilities, for funding to purchase the monitoring equipment;

• IBM, for donation of a computer and software;

• Sullivan County Department of Planning and Economic Development, for fiscal support to purchase start-up office equipment;

• Sullivan County Visitor's Association, for help printing the Eagle Watch! Brochure;

• Upper Delaware Council, for funds toward a comprehensive eagle education publication.

Conclusions:

This winter, 2006 was a record year for eagles and visitors in the Upper Delaware and Mongaup River regions. The annual mid-winter count recorded 179 eagles in Southeast New York, the majority in this region. Total visitation recorded at our staffed viewing locations on the Delaware and Mongaup was 3,014, up from 1,829 people in 1998 and 1,030 visitors in 1997.

Publicity about the eagles was enormous this winter. An article in the New York Times on Jan. 24 prompted hundreds of phone calls and emails to The Eagle Institute for information about viewing opportunities. It also generated more interest from other media which, in turn, stimulated more public interest.

Did the increased visitation affect the eagles? It is most interesting to note that at both locations, the highest number of eagle sightings occurred on the same day as the highest number of visitors. At Mongaup, the highest sightings in a day (46) coincided with highest visitation (177) on Feb. 13. At the Delaware River location, the highest sightings in a day (26) was the same as the highest visitation (121), on Jan. 30, right after the ice jams broke up and the river opened up. (We leave interpretation of this information to the experts!)

There are many factors that contribute to the eagles activity. Ice cover, temperature and precipitation, in addition to human disturbance, all play a role. For example, low water and freezing temperatures caused significant ice jams on the Delaware and Lackawaxen Rivers this winter; eagle sightings were down until the ice broke and the rivers opened up at the end of January (regional lood alerts on Jan. 26). Likewise at the Mongaup Reservoir, where sightings at the blind didnít increase until Jan. 31 when open water was reported on the reservoir. (Though we knew from the mid-winter count that 50-100 eagles were wintering within this reservoir system in restricted areas.)

Did the added media attention induce increased visitation? At the Mongaup Falls Observation Blind, 32% of the visitors intercepted said they heard about the site through the media, most noting the New York Times article. In contrast, less than 1% of the visitors at the Delaware River location named the media as a stimulus (the NYT article never mentioned the Pennsylvania viewing location).

So how did the visitors know about the Delaware River location? Almost half at this site – 43% - either were repeat visitors or heard about it via word-of-mouth or “just knew” about it. At Mongaup, those who came by word of mouth, or just knew or were repeat visitors totalled 35% of the visitors intercepted or recorded. Environmental organizations/agencies prompted 11% of the Delaware River visitors and another 29% of the Mongaup visitors.

What can we learn from all this? This data shows us how we can better fulfill the mission of providing “the safest and least intrusive viewing experience.” Additional effort should be made to have the media and the environmental groups/agencies act as the vehicles for sharing “eagle etiquette” literature, maps and other information that will enhance the viewing opportunity without disturbing the eagles. On-site volunteers can continue to help the visitors who “just know” about the site or hear about it via “word-of-mouth.” (One person said her hairdresser told her about it!) The onsite interpreter helps the visitor identify and spot the eagles and can provide logistical/geographic information for the visitor (how to get to other viewing locations, gas stations, the highway home, etc.). On-site volunteers can also provide the personal contact that visitors expect once they arrive at the site and can answer questions that might not be addressed in the literature.

We feel very strongly that if funding becomes available for paid, on-site staff, it should go for I&E personnel instead of policing/enforcement. Only two enforcement incidents were reported during the season and both were dealt with promptly and professionally. The real need is for education.

This is not a technical report nor is this data collected in an attempt to circumvent the scientific research that must be done for proper planning and resource management. However, this data, our conclusions and suggestions can and should be used by the experts and professionals who are responsible for making the planning and management decisions. Rather than providing scientific data, we hope we have helped answer some questions with anecdotal and first-hand, eyewitness accounts of how the areas are being used. We also hope this data can provide a jumping-off point for open communication and an on-going dialogue between the various state and federal agencies, environmental organizations and tourism professionals who undoubtedly all have the same goal/mission: protection of this most precious resource!

After the season was over, a first-year volunteer wrote this:

“One of the benefits I've noticed from having the volunteers present is, as simple as it may sound, the actual confirmation that the bird orthose birds they see are indeed bald eagles (instead of ospreys or big hawks or something). For instance, in the 2 weeks that we have been up there (Mongaup Falls) there have been 125 people there and Iíd bet 45-50 of them were seeing a bald eagle for the first time in their lives. This is not something that they want to be guessing about. It is like a dream come true for many of the adults and the kids think itís cool.”

This says it all! Thank you everyone!