When research biologist Bryan Bedrosian stepped to the podium during the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission’s spring meeting in Cody, he brought with him a lifetime of avian research. In those two decades of work he has watched numerous raptors needlessly die, including one of North America’s most charismatic species: bald eagles.

“My life has been dedicated to bird conservation and science across the region, particularly focused in Wyoming,” Bedrosian told the commission.

As he spoke to the group, all outdoors sportsmen and women, he knew his message wasn’t the most popular topic in the gun-hunting sports world. Yet, he is compelled to do everything in his power to save the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and a spiritual symbol for native people long before.

Bedrosian himself is a hunter as well as a mentor to youth seeking to learn the sport. So, in proposing a change to how people have hunted for centuries, he understands how his message will spark controversy.

Bedrosian is the founder and director of Sporting Lead-Free, a group seeking to take the poisonous fragments of lead out of hunting.

“Our mission is to encourage the use of lead-free ammunition,” he said, adding, “We are not for legislation or litigation when it comes to lead ammunition and tackle. So I just want to be upfront and clear on that.”

“We know the right way to move this message forward,” Bedrosian said, “And it’s in an educational, cooperative method.”

Birds are eating lead from hunting and angling choices. It’s not just eagles consuming gut piles and meat from disposed carcasses. It affects many birds like waterfowl and upland game birds — species that scavenge or inadvertently pick up fragments of lead from bullets and shot from hunting and sinkers used in fishing.

A recent study by researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey found that 46% of bald eagles and 47% of golden eagles across the country had chronic lead poisoning, due largely to consuming lead from hunting. A continent-wide demographic model suggests that poisoning at this level significantly suppresses population growth rates for bald eagles — a species that is coming back from the brink due to pesticide poisoning.

“When you look at lead levels in bone, these birds are getting exposed repeatedly to lead over their lives,” Todd Katzner, a supervisory research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the study’s principal investigator, told NBC News. “It’s happening again and again.”  

In Cody, Susan Ahalt (aka the Bird Lady) runs the nonprofit Ironside Bird Rescue. She took in 16 eagles this year, including 10 golden eagles and six bald eagles. Ten of the eagles tested positive for lead poisoning, three tested negative and three died before tests could be done. Two of the eagles testing positive also died, seven were euthanized due to injuries that couldn’t be repaired and two were transfered to New Mexico to become educational birds.

She tests every eagle that comes in and most of them carry lead, ranging from a fatal amount to low exposure. “They all come in during or just after hunting seasons,” she said.

Conservation efforts are especially important in Wyoming. The state has the best habitat for eagles in the lower 48, including the majestic golden eagle. Studies in the Cowboy State have found eagles are dying at an alarming rate, with deaths coinciding with hunting seasons. More than 40% of bald eagles in Wyoming have been found to suffer some level of lead poisoning after fall hunting seasons while nearly none suffer from poisoning prior to season openers.

But the birds don’t need to die. There are many alternatives to hunting and fishing with lead, including some superior to traditional bullets. Every major ammunition manufacturer now has alternatives to take the lead out of hunting.

“The technology has vastly improved over the past 15 years; the access is vastly improved,” Bedrosian said.

While leading the Teton Raptor Center, Bedrosian did his own study by handing out free or discounted alternatives. About a third of hunters in the Grand Teton National Park national refuge took him up on his offer.

“We saw a corresponding decrease in the lead in eagles almost in a one to one correlation,” he said.

Sporting Lead-Free provides data, alternative solutions and presentations while pushing for hunters to help conserve wildlife affected by lead.

“We want to be that voice to provide the data and information in a way that’s not adversarial — in a positive way,” Bedrosian said.

Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioner Pete Dube appreciates the group’s approach.

“I really liked your strategy of education versus legislation, rather than trying to cram it down somebody’s throat,” he said. “It’s very refreshing.”

Dube suggested Sporting Lead-Free be part of state-sponsored hunter education programs in the future.

“I think your message is solid and spot on,” he said.

Brian Nesvik, director of the Game and Fish Department, invited Bedrosian to speak to the commission due to new studies revealing the link between hunting and population declines in eagles.

“These topics have been discussed for, gosh, over a decade at the national level,” he said. “But there hasn’t been, at least in our part of the world, a lot of science that shows a link between lead and population declines. Now, as Bryan [Bedrosian] presented here today, there is some information that indicates that and I think that it changes the story.”