Sandy and Luna: The July 4th Countdown Has Begun

UnsilencedTruth.com | Action Alert — Big Bear Bald Eaglets

This is not a debate. This is a countdown. And it’s urgent.

Right now, in a nest overlooking Big Bear Lake, two eaglets named Sandy and Luna are learning to exist. They are stretching wings they cannot yet fully control. They are picking at fish brought by their parents, Jackie and Shadow, just beginning to understand what food is and how to take it. They are watched, around the clock, by millions of people worldwide through the Friends of Big Bear Valley nest cam.

And in 41 days on July 4th, if nothing changes, a fireworks barge will detonate directly across that lake.

This year is different. The threat is not the same as it has been in previous years. The 2026 situation carries a specific, documented, and preventable danger that local officials are aware of but have not taken action on yet.

Why 2026 Is Unlike Any Previous Year

The 2026 nesting season began with heartbreak. Jackie laid her first clutch of eggs in January — and both were destroyed by raven attacks while the parents briefly left the nest. Jackie defied the odds by laying a rare second clutch in late February. Sandy and Luna hatched on April 4 and 5, 2026.

That late hatch date is the entire story.

In 2025, eaglets Sunny and Gizmo fledged — took their first flights and left the nest — on June 2 and June 7. By July 4th, they had been flying for nearly a month. They were mobile, experienced, and capable of navigating a disruption, however dangerous it remained.

Sandy and Luna hatched a full month later than Sunny and Gizmo. On July 4th, 2026, they will be approximately 13 weeks old. They will almost certainly still be in the nest, or just barely attempting their first flights. They will be at the absolute peak of their most vulnerable developmental window — uncoordinated, dependent, and completely unprepared for what is coming.

Every argument that Visit Big Bear and the Rotary Club of Big Bear Lake have used to justify proceeding with the fireworks in previous years — that the eaglets are mobile enough to handle disruption, that the barge placement on the south shore provides sufficient distance, that the show is short enough to minimize harm — collapses entirely in 2026. Those arguments were built around a normal nesting timeline. This is not a normal nesting timeline.

What the Camera Already Showed Us

This is not speculation. The webcam has already documented exactly what happens when Jackie and Shadow are startled at night.

During the 2025 July 4th fireworks show, Jackie and Shadow were settled in their roost tree and ready for sleep by 8:30pm. Then the booms and bright lights started. At approximately 9pm, one of the eagles was no longer visible on the roost tree — caught on the security camera flying away into the dark. They did not return until late July 5th.

Sandy Steers, who recently passed, was executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley, and documented this pattern across multiple events. The loud, low-frequency explosions flush adult eagles from their roosts into darkness. Bald eagles have extremely poor night vision. When startled into flight after dark, they face immediate risk of fatal collisions with trees and power lines, severe disorientation, and complete nest abandonment.

In 2025, Sunny and Gizmo survived their parents’ absence. They were fledglings — young, but airborne. They could move and were later spotted in the area.

Sandy and Luna cannot move, cannot fly, cannot hunt. Not yet. And if Jackie and Shadow flee into the darkness on the night of July 4th, 2026, what will happen to two uncoordinated, pre-fledging eaglets alone in an exposed nest is not something that should happen on a live camera watched by millions of people.

There is an irony here that should not go unspoken. The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States — a symbol chosen by the Founding Fathers for its strength, freedom, and majesty. Bald eagles are a federally protected species under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, a law that exists precisely because human activity once brought them to the edge of extinction. And yet, on the one national holiday that celebrates everything the bald eagle symbolizes, Sandy and Luna will be subjected to entirely preventable terror — not because there is no alternative, but because no one in authority has chosen to act.

The Solution Already Exists

The most infuriating part of this situation is that no one is being asked to cancel the Fourth of July. No one is demanding that Big Bear Lake go dark and silent.

Visit Big Bear has already proven that a spectacular, crowd-drawing alternative exists. For Memorial Day and Labor Day, the tourism bureau successfully transitioned to drone and laser light shows. Completely silent. Visually stunning. Enormously popular. The infrastructure is in place. The technology is proven. The tourists came.

The only thing standing between Sandy and Luna and a safe July 4th, is a decision that local officials have so far not made — not because the alternative doesn’t work, but because changing a tradition is difficult.

The Clock Is Running — Here Is What to Do Right Now

There are council meetings happening in the coming weeks at which public comment will be accepted. Written comments submitted in advance carry the same official weight as spoken ones — and they become part of the permanent public record.

Below is everything needed to take action today. Please let your voice be heard in a respectful, thoughtful tone.

Submit Written Comments to the Big Bear Lake City Council

The City Council is the permit approval body for the July 4th event. Written comments can be emailed to the City Clerk and will be entered into the public record for the June 10th meeting.

Contact: City of Big Bear Lake | cityclerk@bigbearlake.gov

You can use this language or adapt it in your own words:

“I am writing to respectfully request that the City of Big Bear Lake deny or modify the 2026 July 4th fireworks permit in light of a documented biological emergency. The Big Bear Valley eaglets, Sandy and Luna, hatched on April 4-5, 2026 — nearly a month later than the 2025 eaglets who fledged before July 4th. On July 4th, 2026, Sandy and Luna will be in their most vulnerable pre-fledging developmental window. Webcam documentation from the 2025 fireworks event captured the adult eagles fleeing the roost at 9pm into darkness. With immobile eaglets in the nest this year, that outcome could be devastating. Visit Big Bear has already successfully deployed drone and laser light shows for other holidays. The infrastructure exists. Approving the standard fireworks permit this year, without accounting for this specific biological timeline, could lead to critical harm toward a federally protected species — our national bird — on our nation’s most celebrated holiday. Please require the use of a laser show alternative for July 4th, 2026.”

This post asks for passion — but not aggression. The goal is not to vilify the city. The goal is to make the cost of inaction so visible, so documented, and so publicly known that the decision to proceed with traditional fireworks becomes untenable. But, in the end, the real goal is to get Jackie, Shadow, Sandy and Luna, as well as their fellow Big Bear Lake wildlife, safely through this holiday.

Be factual. Be persistent.

Sandy and Luna have 41 days. Every contact made, every comment submitted, and every share counts.

— UnsilencedTruth.com

Sources: Friends of Big Bear Valley (friendsofbigbearvalley.org) | ABC7 Los Angeles | LAist | Victor Valley News | TMZ | Fox11 Los Angeles | NBC Los Angeles | Change.org