Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
Lehi • For years, Karli Grieder has loved watching bald eagles swoop and soar over Lehi City. Nested in a group of trees just outside Dry Creek Elementary, she said she discovered the birds when her kids first started attending school there in 2020. When she worked in the school’s cafeteria last year, she watched and photographed them often. “I’ve always had a love for birds,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe that I was seeing these bald eagles just fly right around us.” Now, she’s worried their nests have been destroyed, buried somewhere in the cottonwoods where they had been built, after Lehi hired a contractor to chop the trees down on Oct. 22 for the new Mellor-Rhodes Park. The eagles typically migrate to Utah in the fall, Grieder said — adding that she thinks about them arriving at their home only to find it’s been destroyed. Lehi officials, however, said their contractors confirmed there weren’t any nests in the trees before they removed them. Still, the contractors will work with an environmental consulting firm before cutting down the remaining trees “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a statement from the city. Lehi officials have seen photos from the community of eagles’ nests in the trees since they’ve been cut down, city spokesperson Jeanteil Livingston said. However, she added, officials have not seen any taken this year. Livingston wondered if powerful storms could have knocked the nests from the branches. Federal regulations protecting eagles’ nests In a statement, officials with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said they weren’t aware of any eagles’ nests in the area. If there were any, DWR said, they would have been protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act — and a violation can result in a $100,000 fine, a year in prison or both. (Businesses that violate the act can face a $200,000 fine.) Removing an eagles’ nest legally would require a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to the bureau’s website. Spokespeople with the service are not currently taking media questions, due to the ongoing federal government shutdown. Utah DWR, in its statement, said it advised the city to make sure no nests were removed, to coordinate with an environmental consultant and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Grieder, who no longer works at Dry Creek Elementary, said she saw a nest in the trees earlier this year. Since the trees were cut down, social media posts on the “Lehi City Chat” Facebook group have garnered hundreds of comments from residents concerned about the eagles. Teri Harman, the director of public outreach for the environmental nonprofit Conserve Utah Valley, said she’s disappointed the city did not conduct more due diligence, to ensure any tree removal would not disturb any eagles. Harman — a Utah Lake advocate studying at the University of Utah for a master’s in environmental humanities — said she’s worried about what the nests’ condition might mean for the local ecosystem and Utah Lake, about a mile away. Eagles live in the area every year from October to April, she said, and they rely on large trees to build their nests. Without enough room, and as more trees fall to development, she said other eagle habitats near the lake could become overcrowded. “Where are they going to go?” she wondered. Eagles’ impression on observers Jeanne Burrows, who used to work as an aide at Dry Creek Elementary, said her four children — who have all attended the school — would come home excited to have seen the eagles. She remembered one cold day when she sat in her car in the parking lot. The morning had been off to a rough start, she said, and she was trying to find the courage to face the bitter weather and the rest of the day. “I looked up from my phone and saw two eagles soaring in front of me, and suddenly I had the courage I needed,” she said. “Somehow, nature is all we need some days to give us that little extra boost.” Lauren Waldram, a current aide at the school, said she first learned about the eagles in 2019, when her children told her about them. She thought they were mistaking hawks or a different kind of bird for bald eagles, and wasn’t convinced until she saw a photo that confirmed her children’s stories. “From that day forward, I would watch them as I was waiting in the carpool pick-up line,” she said. Waldram said she marveled that her children saw creatures that people often travel to national parks to witness flying just outside their school. Grieder said she remembered bonding over the eagles with her father, who shares her love of birds. When she was feeling stressed, she said she would go watch them, and they became a symbol of peace. “I think it hasn’t quite hit me yet that that’s not going to be there this year,” she said.
