For half a century bald eagles were absent as a nesting species on the Anacostia after the polluted water forced the last pair to abandon their nest in 1946. 

 

The first major goal of the Earth Conservation Corps was to return our nation’s Bird as a nesting resident of our nation’s capital. In 1994, after demonstrating improved water quality in the Anacostia River, the Corps was granted federal and state endangered species permits to transport, care for, and release sixteen bald eagles to the Anacostia River watershed.