Two bald eagle closure areas along the Verde River within the Verde Valley will re-open to the public on Monday, June 18. The closure areas are closed annually to the public from December through June in order to protect bald eagles, a threatened species, from disturbance during their breeding and nesting periods.

Two young eagles successfully fledged from both the Towers and Ladders breeding areas in 2007. The sites are monitored annually by eagle watchers from the Arizona Game and Fish Department's Nestwatch program.  Eagle watchers monitored these sites from the beginning of incubation in early February to the time the young eagles fledged their nests in early June. 

The Towers closure area lies north of Clarkdale.  It is the two-mile section of the Verde River and adjacent National Forest lands in the vicinity of Sycamore Creek downstream to the rapids/powerline crossing. The Ladders closure area is located south of Camp Verde along a two mile section of the Verde River and adjacent National Forest lands in the vicinity of the "Verde Falls" downstream to below Sycamore Canyon.  Roads now open to public use include Forest Road 9709R from its junction with FR 574 and parts of FR 500 and 9244 south of Cottonwood Basin.

The closures and the bald eagle Nestwatch Program are two of many management actions that the Forest Service and Arizona Game & Fish Department use to ensure that Arizona will always have bald eagles.