CLINTON: BALD EAGLES ARE BACK.

Byline: Lawrence L. Knutson Associated Press 

The American bald eagle, the living symbol of the nation since 1782, is back from the brink of extinction and can now be removed from the endangered species list, President Clinton said Friday.

Celebrating a three-decade struggle to protect the bald eagle from pesticides and encroachments on its habitat, Clinton announced a process that is expected to remove the majestic bird from the list by July 2000.

``It's hard to think of a better way to celebrate the birth of a nation than to celebrate the rebirth of our national symbol,'' the president said on the eve of the Independence Day weekend. ``The return of the bald eagle is a fitting cap to a century of environmental stewardship.''

The president was joined on a flag-backed platform on the South Lawn of the White House by a 10-year-old bald eagle named Challenger, who flapped his long brown wings and cocked his snowcapped head.

Challenger was blown from a nest in the wild as an eaglet and experienced too much human contact at a young age to be able to survive in the wild. The bird screeched during the president's remarks.

``Believe it or not,'' Clinton said, ``Ben Franklin wanted our national symbol to be a turkey. The press would be having a field day with that to the present day, wouldn't they?''

With the banning of the pesticide DDT in 1972 and the passage of the Endangered Species Act a year later, the bald eagle began making a dramatic recovery. Today, there are 5,800 breeding pairs.

Four years ago, with recovery well under way, the eagle's situation was upgraded from endangered to threatened.

Removing the bald eagle from the government's endangered list will not expose it to new dangers and its status will be closely monitored.

The eagle will continue to be protected from hunting or capture by two laws: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the taking, killing, possession, transportation and importation of migratory birds, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which bans the taking, possession, transportation, export and import of a bald or golden eagle, alive or dead. ``Taking'' is defined as shooting, poisoning, molesting or harming the bird.

When the Continental Congress in 1782 placed the bald eagle in the center of the Great Seal of the United States, an olive branch in one claw and 13 arrows in the other, there were as many as a half-million eagles in the skies of North America.

By 1963, however, only 417 breeding pairs remained in the lower 48 states as a result of hunting, loss of prey and habitat and the widespread use of DDT.

``Our majestic eagle was slipping toward extinction,'' the president said. ``The eagle struggled barely to survive.''

The nation declared, Clinton said, ``that extinction is not an option - not for the eagle, not for the other creatures put here by God.''

Clinton also used the ceremony to prod Congress to approve his Lands Legacy initiative to provide permanent financing of at least $1 billion a year to protect wildlife habitat, farms, urban parks and natural treasures across America.

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Photo: (Color) President Clinton, with 10-year-old Challenger, said Friday that the bald eagle can be removed from the endangered species list.

Susan Walsh/Associated Press