RETURN TO THE SKY

A memoir by the Cornell student who helped restore the endangered bald eagle.

In 1976, as the United States celebrated its bicentennial, Morris found herself alone on a hilltop at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge near Seneca Falls, New York, playing “Mother Eagle” to two bald eaglets. She had been selected to participate in a program to reintroduce bald eagles into the state. Following the ravaging effects on the species by hunting, habitat destruction, and DDT, “restoring the eagle was symbolic of a nation seeking to right a wrong by avowing its commitment to the environment and to the bird who manifested freedom and resilience." The bald eagle in the lower 48 states had declined from about 400,000 birds in the 1800s to only 417 nesting pairs by midcentury. As Morris notes, “The 1970s were a time of awakening when environmental threats to water, air, and wildlife became rallying cries across college campuses and in the halls of government.” Although she had fantasized about an opportunity such as this, she found herself emotionally unprepared for it; she shares the fear and uncertainty that plagued her during this time. Following the success of the program, Morris describes the joy she felt when she was honored by the Iroquois during a meeting with the chiefs of the Six Nation Confederacy for her efforts to bring back the bald eagle. Morris goes on to detail events since those two summers on the hilltop, after which her life took a different trajectory: the uncertainty that has continued to haunt her and the circumstances that kept her away for the next 45 years. She closes with a moving account of her return to Montezuma in 2022, finding the eagles firmly established as "the iconic brand of the refuge."

Emotional and inspiring proof that one person can make a difference.