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For the last decade, a 24/7 livestream of an eagle's nest about 90 miles east of Los Angeles has captivated people around the world, making occupants Jackie and Shadow into internet celebrities. Right now, an eagle suspected to be Jackie is at a wildlife rescue being evaluated for a possible illness or injury. But advocates are worried about a different, longer-term concern - plans to develop the lakeshore near the nest. Biologists who study eagles say it's complicated. From member station KVCR in San Bernardino, Madison Aument reports.
MADISON AUMENT, BYLINE: Tune into the livestream, and it feels like you're in the eagles' nest, as Big Bear Lake shimmers bright blue about a mile away.
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AUMENT: On a recent morning, Shadow glided into the nest with a fish to share with his eaglets. The livestream's creator, the late Sandy Steers, always marveled at how they captivated audiences. Here she is standing close to their tree in January 2025.
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SANDY STEERS: It's almost like they know they're on a television show, and they're putting on special skits all day long, and it's just hilarious.
AUMENT: Twenty-five years ago, Steers helped found Friends of Big Bear Valley to stop a luxury housing and marina project on the lake's last undeveloped shore. In 2015, Steers started the eagle livestream. It's helped spread the group's conservation message. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors recently approved the development project, but Friends of Big Bear Valley is still fighting it. They say it will create stressful noise and boat traffic at the eagles' only undisturbed fishing spot and cut down trees where they perch to hunt.
The owner and developer of the land, RCK Properties, declined an interview, but their project plans include protections for the eagles, like a neighborhood eagle watch, limitations on using the marina, and ongoing consultation with an arborist. Steers said those mitigation measures aren't enough.
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STEERS: Requiring the Homeowners Association to police themselves and enforce the biological mitigation supposedly protecting bald eagles and the highly endangered plant species on this property.
AUMENT: That was her at a board of supervisors meeting last September. She died in February. But several independent eagle experts say that it's not clear that Jackie and Shadow would be negatively affected by this development. Biologists like Bill Bowerman of the University of Maryland, College Park, say the pair would probably be OK.
BILL BOWERMAN: It sounds like the mitigation that has been proposed - you know, it sounds reasonable.
AUMENT: Bowerman says things like tree maintenance and closing the marina during the winter breeding season are what he'd do. In fact, he's authored similar conservation plans. He says the boat activity probably won't interfere much.
BOWERMAN: Most of the times they're fishing really early in the morning, when people typically aren't there.
AUMENT: But Bowerman and other experts say they're concerned about the impact this development will have on eagles who aren't already established in this area. Peter Nye is a retired biologist from New York's Department of Environmental Conservation. He says development takes away habitat from eagles. Right now, that area is full of trees that eagles could nest in.
PETER NYE: As long as that territory is maintained, that allows eagles to continue to perpetuate.
AUMENT: Friends of Big Bear Valley is engaged in one last-ditch effort to save this land. Just before Sandy Steers died, she negotiated a deal with RCK Properties to purchase the land for $10 million if she could raise the money. So far, they've raised over $4 million. The deadline is July 31.
For NPR News, I'm Madison Aument in San Bernardino.
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