Golden Eagles are the largest aerial predators in North America and are found mostly in the western half of the United States. Their large size, maneuverability and intelligence have allowed them to adapt to a variety of landscapes, ranging from high mountains and alpine tundra to shrub-steppes and open deserts. Long-term surveys of migrating Golden Eagles on the Rocky Mountain Front have documented significant declines since the mid-1990s. Research suggests these declines are due to decreased reproduction, loss of habitat, rapidly expanding energy development and an increase in human-caused winter mortality (e.g. vehicle collisions, electrocution, lead poisoning, shooting, trapping etc.). Golden Eagles are long-lived and produce relatively few young over the course of their lifetimes. The loss of even a small number of breeding adults can have a long-lasting negative impact on that population. Golden Eagle populations in America are in trouble and the time to act is now.

We have been tracking adult Golden Eagles for more than 15 years and have deployed GPS transmitters on well over 100 eagles to model current habitat use at the landscape level and understand the relationships between human activities and eagle behavior. This represents one of the largest tracking studies for this species in the world. Data from this project has been published in numerous scientific journals and has helped guide land managers in conservation efforts across the West.