Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
Protect the Eagle.
Your Gift Doubles Today.
Washington is threatening the laws that saved bald eagles.
A generous friend is matching every dollar — but only today.
🦅 Gift Match — Today Only
Every dollar you give becomes two.
Doug has pledged $1,500 — but we have to hit the goal. Don’t let it go unclaimed.
🚨 Washington Alert
They’re Going After the Eagles
Since January 2025, Congress has introduced 32 bills targeting the Endangered Species Act. One would ban regulation of lead ammunition on federal lands — directly poisoning the bald and golden eagles that saved themselves from extinction. Another strips the “blanket rule” that automatically protects threatened species, creating yearslong delays before any bird can get help.
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — the bedrock law since 1940 — is in the crosshairs too. The same administration rolling back wildlife protections has also been playing games with eagle take permits for wind facilities, creating legal chaos that leaves eagles caught in the middle. This is not a drill.
⚠ The Threats
What’s Killing Eagles Right Now
Eagles nearly vanished once — driven to fewer than 450 nesting pairs by the 1960s. The laws we’re now fighting to defend are the reason they came back. Here’s what’s threatening them today:
- Lead poisoning from ammunition — when hunters leave gut piles, eagles feed on them and ingest toxic bullet fragments. Congress wants to ban any regulation of lead ammo on federal lands.
- ESA rollbacks — the Trump administration’s proposed rules eliminate automatic protections for threatened species and make it harder to account for climate change in listing decisions.
- Habitat destruction — weakening NEPA (gutted by rule in January 2026) means less environmental review before development near nesting habitat.
- Avian influenza — H5N1 hit eagle nests hard in 2022, dropping Iowa’s nest success below 60% as recently as 2025.
- Lead fishing tackle — eagles diving for fish ingest lead weights. The same bill blocking lead ammo regulation would block lead tackle regulation too.
🌊 Western Great Lakes Eagle Population
We Are the Heart of Eagle Country
The Western Great Lakes region is one of the most important bald eagle strongholds in the continental United States. This is what decades of protection built — and what we stand to lose.
| State | Breeding Population | Winter Population |
|---|---|---|
| 🦅 Minnesota | ~9,800 individuals | Year-round stronghold |
| 🦅 Wisconsin | ~1,695 active nests | Major source population |
| 🦅 Michigan | ~800 nesting pairs | Growing steadily |
| 🦅 Iowa | 832 active territories | 3,000–4,000 wintering |
| 🦅 Illinois | ~40 breeding pairs | 3,000+ wintering — largest in lower 48 outside Alaska |
| Western Great Lakes Total | ~15,000+ eagles — the backbone of American eagle recovery | |
Many of Iowa and Illinois’s wintering eagles migrate from Wisconsin and Minnesota — our region feeds the entire migratory network.
🌿 Why Doug Is Matching Your Gift
This Fight Is About More Than Birds
Doug — connected to the Ho-Chunk Nation — understands what’s at stake from the inside out. The Ho-Chunk are one of Wisconsin’s original peoples. Their clan system — including the Eagle Clan and the Deer Clan — reflects a relationship with wildlife built over centuries: one that treats eagles not as a symbol on a coin, but as kin.
Wolves. Eagles. The waters. The land. These are not resources. They are relatives.
When Congress threatens the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, they’re not just threatening a bird. They’re threatening a covenant — one that indigenous peoples have honored far longer than any federal statute has existed.
Help us protect not just wildlife — but indigenous rights — by stopping this attack in Congress.
Doug’s Match — Today Only
“I’ll match every dollar given today, up to $1,500. But we have to hit the goal.”
— Doug Green
Don’t Let the Match Go Unclaimed.
Doug’s $1,500 match expires at midnight tonight.
Give now — your gift doubles immediately.
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