TRC’s Research Team Works to Restore Golden Eagle Nesting Habitat

Unlike much of their range, Golden Eagles in the Northwestern Great Plains are heavily reliant on trees for nesting. In eastern Wyoming, declining cottonwood habitat has significantly impacted the ability of eagles to nest in an area that once had the highest density of eagle nests in Wyoming.   

To mitigate habitat loss for Golden Eagles in eastern Wyoming, TRC’s Research Team received funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to install 10 artificial nesting structures in 2024, in partnership with Thunder Basin National Grassland. We installed six nesting structures on retired power poles with the help of installers. Further, we built four artificial nests in existing trees. We used historical and new aerial flight data to identify locations where eagle territories previously existed but no longer do. 

We located territories with at least one tree and erected an eagle-sized nest within the lower canopy of an existing tree, typically where Golden Eagle nests would be located. In all instances, the tree lacked proper support and branching structure to hold an eagle nest and therefore this is additive to the population of eagle territories in the Great Plains. For pole installations, no trees were present in the potential territory and we provided elevated nesting structures for eagles to use. We installed the poles with a custom welded bracket to hold a Golden Eagle nest during summer 2024. We returned in November 2024 to complete the nests and create a branching structure on the poles to mimic cottonwood trees. Remote cameras were installed to monitor success of the structures. We will also monitor nest use by aerial survey in coming years.