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Mittal Steel Donates 16 Acres for Eagles

Chicago's first nesting bald eagles in a century have a newly protected habitat, thanks to a recent donation of 16 acres by Mittal Steel USA.

Photo Courtesy of the City of Chicago

When the City of Chicago officially released its Nature and Wildlife Plan on July 29, 2006, it announced that Mittal Steel USA, part of the world's largest steel company, would donate 16 acres of wooded land to the city.

The land, located along the Little Calumet River on Chicago's South Side, is critical breeding habitat for two now-famous bald eagles that have been nesting for the past three years, though without any chicks to show for it so far. They are the first known bald eagles to nest in Chicago for more than a century.

Mittal USA CEO Louis Schorsch says his company is committed to providing jobs and improving the environment.

But that statement might have surprised forest preserve advocates last summer, as they fought Mittal's attempts to swap its own land, which advocates called fragmented and of poor quality, for a section of nearby Whistler Woods Forest Preserve.

Mittal, however, says that in 2005 it purchased the company that had been pursuing the land swap, International Steel Group. While Mittal did initially pursue the swap, it eventually withdrew.

The fragment the steel companies wanted to trade away, it turns out, is the land the eagles have adopted. Its isolation may have helped attract the birds, allowing them to nest by the water away from prying eyes.

Mittal Steel's recent donation leaves Whistler Woods intact while the city protects eagle habitat at relatively little cost. Mittal will also sell an adjoining parcel to Univision Radio for communication towers, which bird experts say should not affect the eagles.

— Don Parker

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