| | Accession Number | 5005082 |
| | Title | Restoration ecology of a migratory population of whooping cranes:Wisconsin to Florida |
| | Project Description | The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service want to introduce a wild, |
| | migratory flock of whooping cranes into Eastern North America and a nonmigratory flock of |
| | whooping cranes into Florida. Once these populations are established and the Aransas-Wood |
| | Buffalo population is secure the whooping crane can be moved from the endangered to threatened |
| | classification. The successful production of captive-bred cranes is an essential part of these |
| | efforts. Productivity and access to the wild population in the Wood Buffalo National Park are |
| | limited. A team (Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership or WCEP) was formed in September 1999 |
| | to establish a population that will breed in Wisconsin and winter in Florida. Ultralight aircraft and |
| | other techniques will introduce the cranes to the migratory path. Operation Migration (ultralight |
| | team), the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the |
| | U.S. Geological Survey and others will use ultralight techniques in an attempt to introduce the |
| | cranes to the chosen migratory path. Other studies are under review to find ways to introduce |
| | whooping cranes to the ultralight flock and to the migratory route. Patuxent started reintroduction |
| | research with sandhill cranes in the 1970s, whooping cranes in the 1980s and continues that work |
| | today.These studies improve our understanding of conditions necessary for a successful release |
| | of animals and ways to study these changes for large birds and mammals. Principals and |
| | practices from these studies helped establish a productive nonmigratory whooping crane flock of |
| | more than 100 birds in Florida. Our objectives are to: a. to release whooping cranes in Wisconsin |
| | that will winter in the salt marshes of Florida, survive and breed in Wisconsin, b. train whooping |
| | cranes to follow a chosen migratory route for migration, c. train whooping cranes to follow an |
| | ultralight aircraft that remain wild enough to survive in the wild after release, c. accomplish these |
| | objectives without excessive mortality, and d. to complete the project without compromising |
| | safety of birds or humans. |
| | Keywords | crane, endangered species, grus americana, reintroduction, restoration, sprecies at risk, status |
| | and trends, wetlands, whooping crane, |
| | Principal | George F Gee, Crane Restoration Ecology: george_gee@usgs.gov; |
| | Investigators |
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