200 Years Late, National Symbol Gets Own Year

In the bald eagle’s 200-year reign as this country’s national symbol, the big, majestic bird has graced many a building', coin and document. The national symbol even

landed on the moorywith Apollo 11.

This year, from March 14 through 20, the eagle will serve as the symbol for yet another event. For the first time. National Wildlife Week, an educational effort sponsored annually by the National Wildlife Federation, will focus on the plight ofifie bald eagle, now an endangered

species in most of the)"lower 48" states.

The theme of the tfeek, "We Care About Eagles," will also help commemorate 1982 as the "Year of the Eagle," marking the 200th anniversary of the bald eagle's selection as this country’s national symbol. Actor and environmentalist Robert Redford will serve as the "week’s”

hortorary chairman.

COINCIDENTALLY. AMERICANS WILL observe the "Year of the Eagle" in the same year that they commemorate the 100th birthday of Wildlife Week’s creator. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was FDR who proclaimed the first Wildlife Week in 1938 to rally publio'suppbrt for

the nation's wildlife.

"It’s appropriate that we remember the eagle and FDR in the same year," said Dr. Jay D. Hair, executive vice president of the NWF. "For many Americans, the name Roosevelt has come lobe synonomous with 'hope.' If any one animal could represent that abstraction, it’s the bald eagle. He represents our hope— for freedom, courage and for the contihued health of the environment. That hope has kept National Wildlife Week going—ever since Roosevelt

first called for it 44 years ago."

Specific Jtinds of wildlife have been named in National Wildlife Week themes only three times in the past. In 1952, the NWF asked Americans to “Save the Key Deer," a tiny deer found only in the Florida Keys. A year later, the Federation made the same plea for the prairie chicken. In 1962, Americans were asked to tyink about “Waterfowl for

the Future."

OTHERWISE. THE FEDERATION has generally Chosen broader themes for Wildlife Week. Last year, the theme was "We Care About Oceans," with Walter. Cronkite serving as Wildlife Week chairman. Other more general themes have included l949’s "This is Your Land—Conserve It,” and 1971's "Wildlife-4Who Needs it?" V ■ Endangered species have often been the\ubject of wildlife week themes, as in 1956 and 1974, wheK.themes were "Endangered Wildlife” and "We Care About^Endangered Wildlife.” Habitat protection has also been the subject of several observances of this "week." “Provide Habitat" was the theme in 1969, "We Care About Wildlife Habitat" was 1975’s slogan, andfn 1976 it was “Save Our Wetlands." ' —Eagle-eyed Yes, But Not Bald

Want to know why the American bald eagle is called "Bald?" Or why "eagle-eye" is an apt description for someone with good eyesight? These are just twp of many questions about America's national bird answered in a recent issue of Ranger Rick, the National Wildlife Federation’s monthly publication for children. A bald eagle isn’t bald at all His head is covered with white feathers. The word bald comes from the Old English word “balde," which means white. An "eagle-eye” refers to the eagle’s extraordinarily keen eyesight, which enables some of them to spot a fish from more than a mile away. An unusually high number of "cone cells," or specialized vision cellS, give the eagle's eye its long-distance /ocusing capability, says Ranger Rick. The extra cells also make the eagle's eye large in proportion to the rest of his body. Some eagles have eyeballs larger than a human's. THE ENTIRE edition of the ctyldren’s nature magazine was dedicated to the bald eagle, officially kicking off 1982 as the "Year of the Eagle." The year long observance commemorates the selection of the bald eagle as this nation’s symbol 200 years ago. Among the other questions about 4he majestic bird answered by Ranger Rick are these; , How high do eagles fly? No one knows for sure, says

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The federation hopes that the slogah “We Care About Eagles" will call attention to the fdet that many wildlife species, including the bald^agle, are now endangered in the United States. "The bald eagle is probably the most visible example of an animal whose survival has been needlessly threatened," said Hair. "We made the bird our national symbol in 1782. Then we started destroying his habitats, polluting the streams from which he feeds, and shooting him from the sky. With a little more planning, those abuses could have been avoided. This bird never should have been forced on to the.endangered species list." A MAJOR GOAL of Wildlife Week is to educate students, conservationists and the general public about the plight of the eagle. Close to five hundred thousand education kits will be distributed to schools throughout the

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country. Robert Redford has narrated public service announcerfjents for radio and television that describe the eagle's struggle to survive As a leader in the fight to save the national bird in the ''contiguous states, NWF bds established four refuges in prime eagle wintering arfcas since 1974 The Federation also conducts a mid-winter bald eagle survey each January to determine the number of eagles wintering in North America. And at the Federation’s Raptor Informa lion Center in Virginia, researchers work to identify ' critical bald eagle habitats and lo maintain a data "bank'' on eagles and other birds of prey * The Federation also offers a $500 rewand for information leading to the conviction in federal Court of anyone who kills a bald eagle. Eagles have been protected by , federal law since 1940 NWF has presented $6.000^m " rewards since H began its reward program infSTar"^

Ranger. Rick. But they do fly‘high—even . out of sight—by riding on top of rjsing columns of air, Galled thermals. How big is a bald eagle's nest? They are often huge, because eagles (who mate for life) tend to use the same nest, piling new materials on tof> of the old year after year. One of the largst' nests ever found weighed more than a ton, and measured 20 feet deep by 9'2 feet across. A new nest is small by comparison — about three feet deep and five feet across, according to Ranger Rick. Do eagles nest in the same place year after year? Not always. Some pairs have several nests in the same area, and they use a different one each year. But one pair of eagles nested in the same place for 20 years. How much do eagles weigh? A mature American bald eagle weighs between eight and 12 pounds. Most female bald eagles weigh a little more than their mates.

The Corrections System

by Sheriff Beech N. Fox

Jails Aren^t What They Used to Be

Imprisonment hasn’t always been society’s means of dealing-with criminal of-

fenders.

Until the latter part of the 18th century, the usual method of dealing with convicted offenders was to fine them or inflipt some form of corporal punishment. Fiogging, branding, mutilating, public humiliation v — using the stocks, pillory and dunking Nitool — were common ways of punishing the wicked^ those confined in the jailhouse, or*whatever was available at the time„were usually debtors or persons awaiting trial. Prior to 1800 only England was using an alternative method of eorpofal punishment; some 50,000convicted offenders were shipped to the American Colonies during

those years.

THROUGH THE 1600s HERE IN AMERICA, attitudes toward corporal punishment were significantlyinfluenced by the Quakers bf West Jersey and Pennsylvania. They suDstitured a system of imprisonment and hard labor. This was reasonably successful until the British put a stop to itin the early Il700s. However, this approach was reactivated after thb Revolutionary War with the help of

humanitarians slieh as Benjamin Rush.

An Englishmdli. John Howard, devised the cellular jail system. This was based on strict confinement and solitude. Under these conditions, the prisoner could reflect upon his sins and hopefully become remorseful. The Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia, the first true prison in the U.S., was structured on these principles The 1800s saw many experiments in penology. The Auburn (NY.) System, in a variation of the cellular idea

Drastic changes in our methods of imprisonment are long overdue. Present day U S prisons do little more than expensively warehouse criminals; with taxpayers certainly not getting their money's worfh Nearly all prisoners are sooner or later released — many having become more > efficient crirriinals than before their incarceration NOTHING THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN or studied leads me to believe that prisons’ should provide anything more than basic human needs and the opportunity for education and vocational training Such programs would be supported by daily routines based on the traditional work ethic with an ^enly applied punishment/reward structure. Recently Chief Justice Warren E Burger asked that prisons be directed along more productive lines such as conversion to shops or factories. In my opinion this is the type of bold, aggressive, innovative thinking that can -finally turn things around Certainly the modern trend toward coddling and social rehabilitation has not beep successful on any useful scale; it has been enormously expensive

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added segregation and strict silence. Many of these early

efforts at incan

^ration resulted in living conditiqns which would lie considered "cruel and inhuman"

today

punishments. ANOTHER IDEA. DEVELOPED BY two Irishmen, Sir Walter Crofton and Sir Joshua Jebb, became the forerunner of our present system of parole. Their system involved classification, vocational training, good conduct rewards and early release for deserving prisoners. Many of their basic theories are still in evidence despite the numerous distressing social changes we are confronted with today — altitudinal changes towards prisoners’ rights, respect for life and property, and the acceptance of previously uha^" ceptable life styles. Modern efforts to operate successful prisons are a mix ture of much that has gone before. However, today there are wide variatidns — extremes such as the relatively new San Diego (Calif.) Federal Prison which offers all the comforts of home from private toilets to color tv. to Mississippi's Parchman’s State Prison with its overcrowded and deplorable conditions.

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The ways in which air pollution do harm are indeed many. Probably the most obvious impact is.acid rainfall which destroys the life systems in lakes, erodes buildings and eats away at metals: v ’ Recently this factor swam into even clearef- focus with publication of an exhaustive Princeton University study of water quality in and beneath the New Jersey Pinelands. The study supports the current Pinelands standards for water. Nothing unexpected was revealed, but fin often overlooked factor was singled out for its much aeserved importance. This is. the vulnerability of the trillions of gallons of pure water in aquifers beneath the Pinelands. BECAUSE OF THE SANDY MAKEUP of the earth in that region, rainfall passes quickly down lb those aquifers But that same sandiness means that the soils lack clays and other constituents which, most other ^places, would seize the pollution and hold it in a kind of N^ienlical bondage, befote it got down to the aquifer But not so in the Pinelands. If it falls from above, whatever it is, there's virtually nothing to keep it from polluting the water down below the surface. If there's need for another argument for clean air, this is certainly a good oqc! David Moore is executive director of thp NJ Conservation Foundation.