Return to People behind the Eagles Profile of Steve Costello For Steve Costello, director of public affairs at Central Vermont Public Service, participating in the Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative is an unexpected pleasure. "The utility industry can be pretty dry, with all kinds of technical information, but our participation in this project adds an excitement I never would have dreamed of when I started at CVPS," he says. Costello joined the company back in 1996, several years after CVPS began working on osprey restoration with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife and Milton resident Meeri Zetterstrom. Costello and Zetterstrom hit it off immediately. "We installed some platforms for the birds at Meeri's request, but they were being annoyed by people, intentionally and unintentionally," Costello says. "We had an investment in helping them rebound, and quickly realized it would be wasted if we didn't educate people about the need to leave the birds alone." The company developed a website on the Lake Arrowhead ospreys, www.cvps.com/ospreys, added new nesting platforms, worked with the news media, and produced educational programs for schools and cable access television. Years of effort eventually paid off, and now three pairs of ospreys and their offspring call Lake Arrowhead home. CVPS's participation in that effort prompted a request for help from Margaret Fowle of the National Wildlife Federation, one of the lead partners in the Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative. Costello suggested a larger CVPS role. "Initially, we were just asked if we would put in some utility poles that could hold the hack boxes for the birds," Costello said. "But as soon as I started talking with Margaret, I saw other ways we could help out, and we quickly offered additional resources." CVPS installed the six-pole frame for the hack boxes, and two-dozen members of the CV Greenteam, a employee volunteer group, helped build the boxes, collect sticks for nests, and prepare for the birds' arrival. The company also developed the website for the program, and installed cameras in two of the hack boxes so people could watch the birds via the Internet. Employees also volunteered as eaglet caregivers, and Costello has helped out by writing and editing educational materials and news releases and producing photographs of the project and eaglets. "One thing we learned through our osprey program was that education was a critical element," Costello said. "We wanted to do an osprey webcam for years, and looked into the technical issues involved, but the nest sites at Lake Arrowhead weren't appropriate. "At Dead Creek, our telecommunications department was able to use solar power to run the cameras, beam the images by radio back to the refuge headquarters, and download them onto a DSL line provided by Champlain Valley and Waitsfield Telecom." Although Costello has no formal wildlife training, he has developed a solid understanding of raptors, particularly ospreys, and is an avid hiker, kayaker and bird watcher. "I've spent hours staring through the lens of a camera to get one or two shots of the ospreys at Lake Arrowhead," Costello said. "I've studied them and learned everything I could about them. I've seen them breeding, feeding, hunting and even panting, and through the bald eagle program, I've actually held a young eaglet in my hands.  That's a thrill I will never forget." Terms of Use - Copyright 2009 Central Vermont Public Service Copyright photos CVPS, Floyd Scholz U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife Web related issues