In 1972 DDT was banned in the United States, but it was too late for one species, for there were no more Ospreys in the entire state of Pennsylvania.

Recognizing this environmental disaster, an East Stroudsburg University professor harkened to the call of the silent spring and undertook a then controversial plan to reintroduce the Osprey - a fish-eating bird of prey - to the Poconos. Today, Osprey are no longer an endangered species in Pennsylvania, and the Poconos are home to Pennsylvania's largest Osprey community.In 1980, Dr. Larry M. Rymon noticed that Osprey were completely gone from Pennsylvania. Surrounding states had only a few nests, and those were located along the seacoast. His East Stroudsburg University team devised a plan to reintroduce Osprey into Pennsylvania by relocating fledgling Osprey to a 7,000 acre private lake preserve in the Poconos."We took six-week-old Ospreys from nests in the Chesapeake Bay and brought them to the Poconos, put them on towers with nests that we made, and raised them until they flew," Rymon explained. "Then, hopefully, they would come back in three to five years and restart the population."That's exactly what Rymon did over the next 18 years."The first young came back as adults in 1982 and 1983, and by 1984, we were seeing the beginning of nesting in Pennsylvania," Rymon noted. "From then on, we watched the population increase."Rymon estimates there are currently about 100 nesting pairs of Osprey in Pennsylvania. According to Mark Davenport who patrols the site at the original Pocono preserve where the Osprey were originally hacked, there are at least six nests known in the area, and he suspects several more are outside of normal viewing locations.Hacked or hacking is a term that biologists use to describe the method used to reintroduce the Osprey to the Poconos. It refers to the English practice of falconry where young hawks were trained to return to their nests to feed on hacked meat until they became effective hunters.With the Osprey whose sole diet is fish, the researchers left pieces for the fledglings to eat next to their nests. They arranged a curtain between themselves and the young Osprey to avoid bonding the Osprey to the researchers."We fed them until they were independent, and then we let them go," Rymon said.At six weeks, young Osprey can tear apart fish. At around 53 days, first flight occurs. After that, they develop their fishing skills and expand their range until, in late August, they migrate to Central and South America to over-winter for up to 20 months. Then, these immature Osprey return to their nesting grounds.Osprey attain sexual maturity at three to four years of age. The male attracts the female to the nest, which is made of sticks and used and repaired each year. The female lays two to four eggs. Researchers estimate first-year bird mortality at slightly over 50 percent.With a diet dependent solely upon fish and a low fertility and survival rate, Osprey were one of the earliest species to be nearly exterminated by DDT. This insecticide, used to control mosquitoes during World War II, became commercially available in the 1950s. By 1960 it was in widespread use, principally to control mosquitoes around lakes and stream-places where runoff would accumulate and concentrate in fish, the food source of the Osprey.Too late to save Pennsylvania's Osprey, DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972. With a half-life of about 15 years, and the cleansing action of the rains and springs, by 1980, Pennsylvania's waterways were recovering enough for Osprey to be reintroduced.The migrating birds returned to the Poconos. The hacking program was a success."I couldn't be happier with the outcome," Rymon said. "We did something to restore a species. Managing a species is one thing, but when they are close to extinction, you feel that helps significantly."