In a moment when there seems to be so few success stories, this one is worth trumpeting:

State environmental officials say New York&#8217s population of bald eagles may be at its

highest level since efforts began to restore them more than 30 years ago.

Preliminary results of this year&#8217s annual survey by the Department of Environmental

Conservation show that sightings may top the record of 573 bald eagles counted in 2008. Among

the eagles counted so far this year are the 51 seen in Western New York.

The primary places where eagles are spotted are along the Hudson River and Delaware River

basins, where 277 of the great birds were spotted in January, and the St. Lawrence River,

where 101 were sighted. Eagles also have been seen in Western New York, including one pair

that nested along the Niagara River.

That&#8217s a vast improvement from 1975, when the state was able to document only one,

unproductive pair of bald eagles. Their numbers had been cut by years of habitat loss,

pesticide contamination and hunting.

In this region, that had a lot to do with pollution in the Great Lakes, which caused the

shells of eagles&#8217 eggs to be too thin to survive. That is yet another reason for Western

New Yorkers, and all residents of the Great Lakes region, to push for President Obama&#8217s

five-year, $2.2 billion program to clean the lakes.

This bipartisan, binational plan is designed to clean up some of the most threatened

&#8220hot spots,&#8221 to resist invasive species, to protect beaches and offshore waters for

swimming, boating and fishing and to protect and restore the habitat for native creatures. A

byproduct will be to further nourish the comeback of the bald eagle.

The fragility of that comeback was illustrated, sadly, by other eagle-related news this

week; an Allegany County farmer just trying to &#8220use up the product&#8221 was fined $3,000

for using a potent regulated agricultural chemical in a way that killed two eagles along with

other birds last year.

The overall recovery numbers, though, represent a great success not only for our national

symbol, but for the public that funds this project. Indeed, it&#8217s a good answer for those

who say government programs don&#8217t work. It&#8217s taken patience and determination, but

this program has worked out very well, indeed.