A Minnesota man’s mission to (lastly) make the bald eagle the U.S. nationwide fowl

A Minnesota man’s mission to (lastly) make the bald eagle the U.S. nationwide fowl


WABASHA, Minn. — You can be excused in the event you thought this wasn’t needed, however the bald eagle is one step nearer to being designated the nationwide fowl of the United States.

Late one Monday night again in July after most senators had already gone residence for the day, a unanimous movement handed the Senate to slide the formal nationwide fowl designation into the U.S. code.

“Without objection, it’s so ordered,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., stated after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., moved to cross the invoice with nobody else within the chamber.

Just like that, it was off to the House.

The U.S. code already designates the oak tree because the nationwide tree of the United States and the rose because the nationwide flower, and Congress even voted in 2016 to deem the bison the nationwide mammal, however the bald eagle isn’t the nationwide fowl of the U.S. — but.

Thanks to at least one man who found the omission, Congress is about to right that. The House handed the invoice Monday evening, sending it to President Joe Biden to signal into legislation and formalize the bald eagle’s nationwide significance in certainly one of Congress’ final acts of the 12 months.

Preston Cook appears to be like at his assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects housed in Wabasha, Minn. Frank Thorp V / NBC

The ‘eaglevangelist’

The bald eagle is a selected ardour in Wabasha, Minnesota, the place the National Eagle Center sits on the financial institution of the Mississippi River. The self-designated “Eagle Capital of America,” the town has a inhabitants of about 1,500 folks, together with one one that has devoted his life to the bald eagle’s legacy.

Preston Cook is, to place it mildly, obsessive about bald eagles.

“I noticed a film known as ‘A Thousand Clowns’ in 1966 and there was one line within the film, ‘You can’t have too many eagles,’” Cook stated. “I walked out of the theater and I stated that is perhaps an attention-grabbing factor to gather.”

Preston Cook holds a box of eagle pins in one of two warehouses that hold his collection, which has grown to over forty thousand eagle items since he first started collecting in the 1960s. The collection is housed in Wabasha, Minnesota.
Preston Cook holds a field of eagle pins in certainly one of two warehouses that maintain his assortment, which has grown to over 40,000 eagle objects since he began gathering within the Sixties. The assortment is housed in Wabasha, Minn.Frank Thorp V / NBC

So, he began gathering and gathering and gathering. Over the many years, Cook’s trove has ballooned to over 40,000 objects, a set that he believes is the most important within the nation.

“If it had an eagle on it, I’d purchase it,” Cook stated, “I could have gotten a bit carried away in my gathering right here, however I’ve beloved the entire course of.”

The assortment lives in two warehouses simply steps from the Mississippi River and ranges from political pins to work and journal covers to enjoying playing cards. There are lego units and sculptures, ginger beer bottles and eagle bedazzled stilettos.

Preston Cook looks at his collection of over 40,000 eagle items housed in Wabasha, Minn.
Preston Cook appears to be like at his assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects housed in Wabasha, Minn. Frank Thorp V / NBC

The assortment turned so massive that Cook started in search of a spot to place it. It discovered a house within the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.

He additionally determined to show his assortment right into a ebook, and whereas researching the eagle’s place in American historical past, he got here to a realization.

“We’ve by no means had a nationwide fowl,” Cook stated.

The turkey fable

The omission got here as a shock to the employees on the National Eagle Center, who thought the glory had already been bestowed on the fowl that nests within the timber surrounding their headquarters. Minnesota has the second-largest nesting inhabitants of bald eagles within the nation, trailing solely Alaska.

“Preston Cook introduced that as much as us years in the past, and it was like, ‘Oh, come on, you’re kidding me,’” stated Scott Mehus, the training director on the National Eagle Center. “I’ve been speaking in courses all of those years, telling [people] it’s our nation’s image and our nationwide fowl.” 

“I’ve been improper all these years and so has all people else within the nation,” Mehus stated.

The bald eagle turned the nation’s most outstanding fowl when it was positioned on the nice seal shortly after the nation’s founding. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who had been initially tasked with the accountability, had been unable to conform to a seal to characterize the nation, so in 1782, Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thomson submitted a model with the bald eagle, which was accredited later that 12 months. The eagle-emblazoned seal was first used on a doc authorizing George Washington to barter a prisoner-of-war change and has been a nationwide image since.

Eagle items seen in one of two warehouses that houses Preston Cook’s collection of over forty thousand eagle items. Cook has been collecting the items since the 1960s.
Eagle objects seen in certainly one of two warehouses that maintain Preston Cook’s assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects.Frank Thorp V / NBC

But not all the Founding Fathers had been followers of the eagle. Franklin famously wrote in a letter to his daughter that he wished the eagle had not been chosen because the consultant for the United States, calling it “a fowl of unhealthy ethical character” and including, “He doesn’t get his residing actually.”

Franklin went on to say in his letter that “the Turkey is compared a way more respectable fowl, and withal a real authentic Native of America.”

But it is a fable that Franklin led discussions about making the turkey the nationwide fowl; historians consider he was joking. “He by no means advocated for the turkey to be our nice seal,” Scott stated, although he admitted Franklin made some detrimental feedback concerning the eagle.

Preston Cook looks at his collection of over forty thousand eagle items housed in Wabasha, Minnesota.
Preston Cook appears to be like at his assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects housed in Wabasha, Minn. Frank Thorp V / NBC

The invoice

“This is a type of few legal guidelines that’s going to make no distinction,” Cook jokes.

The invoice Cook himself initially wrote and despatched to Congress has no cash hooked up to it; it doesn’t even help in conservation efforts associated to bald eagles. It merely slips a line into the U.S. code between the nationwide tree and the rules for inaugural ceremonies that claims, “The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is the nationwide fowl.”

He despatched the invoice to the workplaces of Minnesota lawmakers in each chambers of Congress, and a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced it to the ground to be handed unanimously within the higher chamber.

Eagle items seen in one of two warehouses that houses Preston Cook’s collection of over forty thousand eagle items. Cook has been collecting the items since the 1960s.
Eagle objects seen in certainly one of two warehouses that maintain Preston Cook’s assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects. Cook has been gathering the objects for the reason that Sixties.Frank Thorp V / NBC

“They are those that got here to us and stated it’s not the nationwide fowl,” Klobuchar stated on the National Eagle Center and Cook. “So that was the impetus.”

It takes an act of Congress and the president’s signature to designate any merchandise with the “nationwide” title; the rose obtained the glory in 1986 and the oak tree in 2004.

“No one has to alter something; it’s only a correction. It is simply a correction in historical past to make issues proper and makes issues the best way they need to be,” Cook stated. “It was a type of little items of historical past that I felt must be taken care of, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The blazer

Cook doesn’t actually put on his ardour for eagles on his sleeve, nevertheless it’s shut. He wears a bow tie embroidered with an eagle and an eagle pin on his lapel, and eagles even fly on his crimson, white and blue suspenders. 

When you ask him what his most prized eagle possession is, he factors to the buttons he obtained when he was drafted into the Army within the Sixties, which at the moment are sewn onto the blue blazer he wears usually.

“I used to be issued these buttons on my costume uniform that has the nice seal. Two years later, I obtained out, snipped the buttons off my navy uniform, and I’ve been carrying them ever since,” he stated. “These are the primary objects in my assortment, and that gave me a begin on gathering eagles for the remainder of my life.”

Preston Cook looks at his collection of over forty thousand eagle items housed in Wabasha, Minnesota.
Preston Cook appears to be like at his assortment of over 40,000 eagle objects housed in Wabasha, Minn. Frank Thorp V / NBC

He appears to be like at tables lined with outdated journal covers exhibiting caricatures of eagles flying away with young children of their talons and admits he hasn’t stopped gathering objects, calling it “a working assortment.” He cycles the objects by way of displays for kids and guests to have a look at within the National Eagle Center, however jokes: “Don’t inform my spouse that I’m nonetheless gathering.”

“My spouse has been very tolerant, and I respect her for that,” he stated. “Occasionally, she is going to say, ‘You have too many eagles.’ Occasionally, she’ll say that.”

But identical to legislating, marriage is about compromise, and even Cook’s family has its limits.

“She says, ‘You can put them wherever you need in the home, however you can’t put them within the bed room,’” Cook stated with fun. “I stated, ‘OK, I can dwell with that one.’”