Bald Eagle's Nest Salvaged by Clean Water Services, PGE and the City of Forest Grove

Forest Grove, OR — September 23, 2005 — An abandoned bald eagle nest was successfully salvaged yesterday and will become an educational exhibit at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Education Center, thanks to the partnership of Clean Water Services, Portland General Electric and the City of Forest Grove. The immense nest, which is more than five feet wide by six feet deep and weighs hundreds of pounds, was perched 94 feet up in a black cottonwood tree on land owned by Clean Water Services near Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove. It took PGE crews, using their tallest boom truck and crane, almost six hours to carefully extract the section of tree holding the nest and safely lower it to the ground.

“This is the only genuine eagle’s nest that will be available for the public to see in this region and perhaps anywhere,” said Pat Willis, executive director of the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Education Center.

The nest salvage effort began two months ago when Clean Water Services’ employee Dave Nutt noticed the nest tree was giving way and would likely topple in the next big storm. Seizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to salvage a real eagle’s nest, he mustered the resources necessary to attempt to save the nest. The U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service granted the required salvage permit, and PGE donated the skilled crews and heavy equipment needed to remove the nest from the damaged tree.

“Our guys are used to working high in the air to repair power lines,” said Scott Bertsch, PGE general line foreman. “Little did they know that their skills would come in handy to preserve an eagle nest and such an amazing one at that!”

The weather was sunny and breezy for the precarious work to be done. PGE foreman Mick Taylor and lineman Rob Bourgeois were lifted almost 100 feet in the air by a boom to inspect the nest. Using extension chainsaws, they cut away limbs to expose the area of the tree that held the nest. When all the extraneous limbs were gone, the nest sat at the new top of the tree, still solidly cradled in its three main branches. The crews carefully attached straps to the branches and created a sling to secure the nest. Then the final cut was made, severing the trunk and releasing the section of tree with the nest. The operation went without a hitch, and the nest was gently lowered to the ground. PGE crews fashioned a frame to hold it in place on the trailer for a short trip to a City of Forest Grove facility. Perched in the trailer, the tree and nest are more than 12 feet tall. In the coming weeks, the nest will be prepared to be moved to the Jackson Bottom Wetland Education Center. The nest is expected to make its public debut in late October.

More than two dozen people witnessed the nest rescue and were fascinated to see what the nest held when it finally rested on the ground. The nest is comprised of thousands of large sticks which, although they appear randomly placed, are so carefully engineered that none of them fell out of the nest as it was being moved. Bones, feathers, fish scales and even a band used to identify and track migratory birds were spotted in the nest.

A pair of bald eagles raised two young in the nest this spring and then left in early August (as customary) to go where the hunting is better. When they return in October, they will move to another nest in the area or build a new one.

Clean Water Services is the sanitary sewer and surface water management utility for almost 500,000 people in urban Washington County and small portions of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Lake Oswego and Portland. Clean Water Services operates four wastewater treatment plants, constructs and maintains flood management and water quality projects and manages flow in the Tualatin River to improve water quality and protect fish habitat.

Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve is a 710-acre wildlife preserve in Hillsboro that is home to ducks and geese, deer, otters, beavers, herons and eagles. Its Education Center (which opened in 2003) is a premier resource for wetlands and aquatic education in the Pacific Northwest, visited by more than 25,000 students, researchers, bird watchers and naturalists annually who enjoy the hands-on exhibits, nature store, classes, field trips and views of the Preserve.

PGE, headquartered in Portland, is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 765,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon. The company supports the community through a variety of philanthropic, volunteer and environmental stewardship efforts. Visit PGE on the Web at PortlandGeneral.com.

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