Tree Holding Bald Eagle’s Nest in Potter Valley Gets Stay of Execution After Bird of Prey Comes Home

Stock photo of a bald eagle by local wildlife photographer, Ann Constantino. See more of her work here.

The birds have been nesting for years in a Ponderosa pine that may still be targeted for removal by PG&E due to its poor condition and its proximity to power lines. 

The bald eagles’ nest in a Ponderosa Pine near power lines in Mendocino County’s Potter Valley. [Photo by Sarah Reith]

Bald eagles are no longer on the endangered species list, but according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “Eagles, their feathers and parts, nests, nest trees, and winter/nighttime roosts are all protected by federal laws.” That includes inactive nests. It is illegal to remove a bald eagle nest without a Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. PG&E has an emergency permit to remove the dead tree and the nest immediately, signed by Heather Beeler, the Eagle Permit Coordinator in the Migratory Bird Program at USFWS. Bald eagle breeding season officially starts on January 15, so if the tree is still standing on Saturday, PG&E is likely to be required to submit an application for a standard permit, which could take weeks or months to process.

Joseph Seidell, a resident on the property where the nest tree is located, first learned about the planned removal on Monday. Eagles have a profound spiritual significance for him, and their presence near the gate leading to his home holds a special welcome. He hired an independent arborist, who opined that the tree, while “in decline” and showing signs of a pine bark beetle infestation, has “no apparent signs of structural deficiencies,” and “appears to be a candidate for alternative risk mitigation without the removal of the tree.” 

Seidell also reported the company for poaching. “I was able to call CalTip and report that PG&E was going to take this nest down,” he said, early Thursday morning. Friends had driven out from the coast before dawn, ready to make sure crews didn’t come through the gate to cut down the tree. The property owner, who didn’t want her name used, was struggling with the decision. “PG&E wants to take measures to save lives,” she reflected, acknowledging that wildfire is a real threat in rural Potter Valley. She added that she had been told about the permit, but hadn’t received a copy. “I need that letter,” to decide what to do, she said; though she also felt she hadn’t been given adequate notice. “The timeframe is unfair,” she complained. “Give me a reasonable amount of time to get an intelligent decision made.” 

She was barely off the phone when Kate Marienchild, a naturalist and author of “Secrets of the Oak Woodlands,” called from the bottom of the driveway. “We’re down here with three PG&E trucks,” she told Seidell, who jumped onto his ATV and took a shortcut to the gate. A truck hauling a chipper, a pickup truck with a crew and their equipment, and the biologist’s vehicle, were on the other side.

“I’ll let him in,” Seidell told the crews; “but I’m not letting in anyone with a chainsaw.” The biologist came in with his binoculars. 

The tree is on Ridgeway Highway, parallel to the Eel River and not far from Van Arsdale dam. The area is subject to extensive biological surveys under the license requirements for the Potter Valley Project. PG&E biologists are aware of another nesting site that this pair of bald eagles last used in 2016, on a ridge just south of the main one in the Ponderosa pine. Beeler told PG&E in a message accompanying the emergency permit to remove the nest that, “given the fire and safety concerns, and that this bald eagle nest is not currently in use as it is outside of the breeding season, PG&E should proceed to do what you deem necessary to prevent wildfires and protect human health and safety.”

But Joseph West, another resident on the Ridgeway Highway property, said he had been watching the nest for seven or eight days. He said he had seen both birds bringing material to the site, and the female, “sitting above it quite often, looking down into it…they’ve definitely decided that this is where they want to spend their nesting season.” He estimated that the nest has been used for three out of five years, for the last 25 years. He, too, was bewildered by PG&E’s rapid timeline. “They’ve had all this time, and yet they waited to put all this pressure on to remove the tree, just in the last five days,” he said. “I don’t understand why they waited until the eagles are in the tree to do something about it.”

It didn’t take long for the eagles to make their presence known. Just before 9:00, in full view of Marienchild, the Vice President of the Peregrine Audubon Society, the PG&E biologist, media, and friends from afar, an eagle landed on the nest and shuffled around behind a branch for several minutes. People fumbled for binoculars, for cameras, for a better view. And then the bird soared out of the nest toward the river, in profile. “Unmistakeable!” Marienchild exclaimed. “We are hoping this will be enough evidence to the PG&E contractors that this is an active nest and they cannot cut it down…they were hoping to do it before nesting season started.” She laughed and clapped as the two pickups and the chipper turned around and headed back the way they came.

“One could say the eagles came to their own rescue,” wrote Bray, who had been making phone calls to PG&E and Fish and Wildlife specialists all morning.

By evening, he was less sanguine. And the fate of the tree is still unknown. After speaking with Beeler and company biologists, Bray was sure a crew would return to Ridgeway Highway on Friday to cut down the tree. “At this point I think we have done what we could to protect the birds,” he wrote. He intends to push for monitoring if the nest is removed before Saturday, but he agreed with the biologists that the eagles have a good chance of laying eggs in the alternate nest site.

But Seidell said he had been on the phone, too, most notably with Senator Mike McGuire’s office. He didn’t have a statement yet. But he thought he had reason to believe a representative from McGuire’s office would be in Potter Valley on Friday — and that the tree was safe. “We’re celebrating,” he said.

UPDATE: PG&E Agrees to Hold Off Cutting Tree Hosting Eagles’ Nest in Mendocino County