The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Friday outlined its plan to protect bald eagles, including protective buffers and strong restrictions on activities that would disturb the animals.

The management proposal is designed to be used should the birds be removed from Endangered Species Act protection later this month.

But some wildlife officials worry that the plan may not go far enough, especially in a state such as Delaware where there habitat is limited and development pressure is great.

"We are considering our options," said Karen Bennett, who heads Delaware's Natural Heritage Program.

The latest push to de-list the bird came in 2005, when a Minnesota landowner contacted the Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed suit seeking to remove bald eagles from the Endangered Species list.

The foundation focuses on property rights protection, limited government and individual rights.

The Minnesota landowner, who had an eagle's nest and wetlands on his property, argued that because of the combination of the two and the restrictions on land use, he couldn't develop his property.

Now, under court pressure, federal officials are considering lifting all Endangered Species Act protection for the national symbol.

The bald eagle populations numbered 417 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states in 1963.

Now, said H. Dale Hall, director of the federal Fish & Wildlife Service, the nearly 10,000 pairs puts the population at the highest it has been since World War II.

In Delaware, the population has rebounded, too -- from three nesting pairs in the 1980s to 43 this year. Many attribute the comeback to a ban on the use of the pesticide DDT. The birds are currently listed as a threatened species, and it is that designation that some are pushing to have lifted.

If the birds are de-listed, they will still be protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The guidelines outlined Friday would provide additional protection.

The new federal plan brought praise from some national environmental groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense.

But in Delaware, the picture isn't all rosy. Bennett said she worries that the federal management plan is "a one-size fits all for the whole country."

Most of the state's 43 nesting pairs live on the narrow forest edges of farm fields. That means the birds don't have the same dense habitat as they do in other states where there is more dense forest habitat along stream and river corridors.

Of those 43 nests, only 23 pairs produced young this year. Some of the losses were due to weather and an extreme cold snap in February. At least one nest blew out of a tree during a nor'easter, said Christopher "Kit" Heckscher, a state zoologist who monitors Delaware's bald eagle population.

The population should be pretty resilient to weather, he said.

A bigger concern for state wildlife officials is how changes in land use affect the population.

Bald eagles that nest near development seem to do fine. But eagles that nest in more remote areas often don't do as well once the land around them begins to change, Heckscher said.

The birds "are a little skittish, a little secretive," he said. "It's really new disturbances that are affecting them."

Heckscher took a look at the eagle nesting trends in the state over the last three years and found that when new development occurs within 3,280 feet of a nest, there is increased risk of nest failure or abandonment.

"That's what we're concerned about," he said.

The federal management plan recommends a buffer of from 330 to 660 feet, depending on the size and scope of the development.

But Hale said federal officials believe their latest move to beef up a definition of what it means to "disturb" the birds should give the birds protection equal to what they already have under the Endangered Species Act.

The new definition of disturb means "to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes or is likely to cause" injury to an eagle or a decrease in its productivity or nest abandonment by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding or sheltering behavior.

The plan "would prevent activities that are likely to harm eagles or interfere with normal eagle behavior," said Tim Male, senior wildlife scientist for Environmental Defense. "This change will make the law more protective and more enforceable."

But Bennett said state officials are still concerned because land uses are changing so rapidly in Delaware.

Already, the limited habitat is causing some turf squabbles between young males looking for a place to nest, she said.

"The rapid changes in our landscape remain a significant concern," she said. "We know that rate of development is going to continue to increase."

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. ¦ State worries new eagle plan may fall short