Jackie And Shadow Raise $10 Million to Save Habitat
- Jul 27
- 2 min read
Bald eagles Jackie and Shadow enjoy a certain level of celebrity status thanks to a live-cam broadcasting 24/7 from their home in Southern California, in the San Bernardino National Forest.
A cleverly placed webcam has allowed tens of thousands of animal lovers to keep an eye on them - wherever they are in the world - as they deliver their eggs and wait for them to hatch in the weeks leading to the arrival of spring. The camera is managed by Friends of Big Bear Valley, an organization dedicated to protecting local animals through education and monitoring. They've been streaming from Jackie and Shadow's nest for years, sharing their family life with the public and providing priceless insight into the behaviour of these majestic creatures. Even revealing the birds' kisses before changing nest duty shifts.
Today, the good news is that the land bald eagles Jackie and Shadow rely on for survival will remain intact. Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) has announced that they reached a goal of raising $10 million to purchase land around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains. A $5.5 million donation from Anna and Greg Brockman pushed the fundraiser to its goal ahead of a July 31 deadline. Greg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Before the Brockmans’ donation, more than 25,000 donations had raised almost half of the necessary funds.
“Greg and I are grateful to all those who championed saving the home of these majestic eagles, Jackie and Shadow,” Anna Brockman said in a statement. “Like many people around the world, we love watching them be amazing partners to one another and raise their young. They inspire perseverance and a sense of connectedness to something greater, to nature. We are proud to be supportive. We are so appreciative of the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust and everyone who came together to preserve this incredible ecosystem, the life it will help sustain, and the forest that will be protected for generations to come.”
The land that will be purchased with the $10 million is known as Moon Camp. This stretch of land has been a target of luxury housing and marina developers for more than two decades. But not any more.
