Photo by Matt Cohen.

The Eagles have landed in the District and city officials intend to keep them here.

In the past month, officials with the District Department of the Environment discovered a new bald eagle nest in the National Arboretum. Not long after, another nest was discovered in the West Campus of St. Elizabeth’s. With the nest discovered in 2013 at the Metropolitan Police Department’s training facility campus in Southeast, this brings a total of three bald eagle nests in the District—the most since 1947.

At a press conference today, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), along with officials from the DDOE, the Earth Conservation Corps—a local environmental action program works with unemployed community to help with Anacostia River restoration—and Challenger, a bald eagle ambassador for his species (yes, that’s his title) officially announced that the bald eagle—the majestic, uber-‘Merican symbol of our nation—has once again made the nation’s capital its home.

“In 1947, the last pair of breeding bald eagles in the District abandoned their nest at the National Arboretum,” DDOE’s Fish & Wildlife Biologist, Dan Rauch, said. “It was due to habitat loss and degradation to our nation’s rivers.”

He said that due to many environmental-conscious legislation passed in the last decade (like the plastic bag tax), along with some serious conservation efforts spearheaded by the D.C. government, the noble raptor of our nation is coming back to D.C. to establish nests and breed.

And with that, Cheh announced that she intends to join numerous other states and introduce a resolution at the next Council meeting to officially declare June 20 as “American Eagle Day.” (No word if the clothing retailer of the same name will be offering any discounts that day).

The reemergence of the bald eagle in our city was first reported in 2000, Rauch said, when a nest was discovered on Newcomb Street in Southeast D.C. But the nest in the National Arboretum is especially significant, since it’s been about 70 years since it’s been home to a nest.

According to Rauch, there’s eaglets in all three nests and, with continued conservation efforts, “we will hopefully continue to have [our] nation’s symbol as part of the District’s skyline.”

And now, ladies and gentleman, John Ashcroft: