International Whooping Crane Recovery Team

The Whooping Crane Recovery Team consists of ten crane experts to provide policy recommendations to the Regional Directors of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service who appoint five members respectively. The Team is responsible for writing the plan to recover the species. Its primary goals are to plan actions to fully protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo natural flock, and to establish two additional flocks in order to remove the species from the Endangered Species Act.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service are given the responsibility by law to recover endangered species. The Service facilitates the diverse partnership of federal, state, and private organizations whose common goal is the success of the Eastern Migratory Population (EMP). Additionally, the Service has primary responsibility for operations at the Wisconsin release site (Necedah National Wildlife Refuge) and the two Florida wintering sites (Chassahowitzka and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuges). As part of the overall team, the Service is also responsible for flyway states coordination, budget development, and project outreach and communications. For more information, visit http://endangered.fws.gov/ and search for “whooping crane”.

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) of the U.S. Geological Survey provides research support to client bureaus in the Department of the Interior. Patuxent is located in Laurel, MD on 12,800 acres of land managed for a diversity of mid-Atlantic habitats. Patuxent raises about two-thirds of all whooping cranes raised for release to the wild and acts as the beginning hatch site for the ultralight portion of the project.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

The WI Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the state agency charged with managing all aspects of Wisconsin’s environment; from fish and wildlife, to air, water, land, and outdoor recreation. Wisconsin was the first state to officially partner with the Whooping Crane Recovery Team (WCRT) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the effort to establish the EMP of whooping cranes. The state maintains and manages a portion of the wetland complex that will support the whooping crane flock, and has supplied much of the environmental data used to assess the suitability of the Wisconsin site where the cranes will be released. The DNR also manages the database of information regarding the whooping cranes post-release.

International Crane Foundation

Since its founding in 1973, the International Crane Foundation (ICF), a non-profit organization, focuses attention on the conservation of the world’s fifteen species of cranes. Through its programs in education, research, field ecology, captive propagation and reintroduction ICF helps to ensure the survival of cranes and their habitats throughout the world. ICF has an integral role in the reintroduction of the EMP in the following areas: education about the project, providing eggs to the ultralight project, oversight of the Direct Autumn Release project, monitoring the health of the new flock, tracking released individuals, and securing funding.

Operation Migration

Operation Migration (OM) is a non-profit organization founded in Canada in 1994, and in the United States in 1998, to promote the conservation of migratory species through innovative research, partnership and education. Following a decade of research, field studies, and successful trials with Canada geese, trumpeter swans, and sandhill cranes; scientists endorsed OM’s unique method of teaching captive-reared birds to migrate. This led to Operation Migration becoming a founding partner of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. Every autumn since 2001, Operation Migration’s team has guided a new generation of captive-raised chicks from Wisconsin to Florida using its ultralight aircraft. Each successive spring the Whooping cranes return unassisted to central Wisconsin, resuming a migration pattern that had been interrupted for more than a century.

The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin

The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is a 501c-3 non-profit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. For more than twenty years, the Foundation has worked with citizens, businesses, non-profits and the government to promote the protection and enjoyment of Wisconsin’s public lands, waters and wildlife. The Foundation joined the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership in 2001 to provide funding for on-the-ground project needs including crane tracking and monitoring, veterinary and equipment needs, and outreach and education activities. Since 2001, the Foundation has provided nearly $450,000 to the recovery efforts.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is a private non-profit organization established by Congress in 1984 to benefit the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants, and the habitats upon which they depend. Its goals are conservation education, habitat protection and restoration, and natural resource management. NFWF meets these goals by creating partnerships between the public and private sectors and strategically investing in conservation projects. NFWF awards challenge grants in which seed funds awarded are required to be matched with additional funding. The Foundation’s challenge grants not only increase dollars directed to conservation, but also increase organizations dedicated to conservation. The Foundation facilitates cooperation and buy-in from diverse stakeholders by creating partnerships among federal, state, and local governments, corporations, private foundations, individuals, and non-profit organizations.