The largest native birds in North America will be returning to Oregon after a 97-year absence.
Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and U.S. Senator Gordon Smith announced October 19 that the Oregon Zoo has been accepted as a member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services California Condor Recovery Program, and will build the nations fourth condor breeding facility. Existing condor breeding facilities are operated by the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the Los Angeles Zoo and the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.
"Saving the California condor is a model of what we can do -- and what we must do -- to save our endangered wildlife" Secretary Norton said. "I commend the Oregon Zoo for their efforts to obtain this designation and we look forward to a long-term partnership that will increase the number of California Condors in the wild."
Plans are for the zoo to receive six young condors, possibly as early as summer of 2002, and to build a facility on Metro open space, which will hold up to 16 breeding pairs by fall of 2003. The breeding facility will be constructed at a secluded site, off zoo grounds where there is minimal noise and no close public contact.
"It is important that the condors not get used to people, and pains will be taken so the condors dont bond with or associate with humans. If they become unafraid of humans, they put themselves in jeopardy when released into the wild," Zoo Director Tony Vecchio said. "We appreciate Metros strong commitment to save endangered species by providing the site for the new condor breeding facility. We could not accomplish this important goal without Metros generous support."
According to Metro Executive Officer Mike Burton, "Whats great about this is that its a marriage between two of Metros most significant programs. The conservation efforts of the Oregon Zoo and the regions open spaces program."
Voters in 1995 provided $135.6 million to purchase open spaces to be protected from development. One of those open spaces will be chosen for the condor breeding facility.
"Without voters support to purchase open spaces this project could not have been realized," continued Burton.
There are no immediate plans to exhibit condors at the zoo, although that remains a future possibility.
Funds for the $1.8 million facility will be raised from foundations and private sources.
With 16 breeding pairs, the Oregon Zoo would be able to contribute up to 32 young condors per year. The first set of 16 eggs each year will be sent to one of the existing breeding facilities for rearing. The second set of eggs will be parent-reared in Oregon.
The recovery objectives of the California Condor Recovery Team are to maintain a captive flock of at least 150 birds across several holding facilities and to release to the wild captive-bred condors to establish two separate, free-flying populations of 150 birds each. There are currently 126 captive and 57 free-flying birds.
The idea of bringing condors back to Oregon originated in a brainstorming meeting about how the Oregon Zoo could participate in the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, slated for 2005-2006. Lewis and Clark saw condors along the Columbia River between The Dalles and Astoria. Their first sighting was on Oct. 28, 1805. In their journals, they refer to them as the "beatifull Buzzard of the columbia (sic)." They killed one and carefully examined and weighed it, making thorough notes in their journal about the 9 2" wingspan, red head and whitish patches under the wings.
Condor bones at least 9,000 years old have been unearthed by archeologists in Oregon Indian middens, and the condor is still a common design motif in the traditional art of Wasco Indians, who lived along the Columbia from The Dalles to Cascade Locks. Native Americans along the Columbia River revered condors and believed them capable of protecting humans against natural disasters such as storms.
Biologists surmise that condors didnt disappear from Oregon because of lack of habitat, but rather because they were easy prey for humans. Lewis and Clark killed two and wounded another. Explorer David Douglas shot a pair near Multnomah Falls in 1828. Many are also thought to have died after eating predators poisoned by strychnine placed by early settlers.
The last condors were seen in Oregon in 1904, near the town of Drain, in southwest Oregon.
Condors held out a little longer in California, but in 1987, there were only 17 left in the wild. In a desperate attempt to save the species, biologists decided to put all the remaining condors into a captive breeding program.
The first release of condors back to the wild occurred on January 14, 1992, at Californias Sespe Condor Sanctuary in Los Padres National Forest.
Two other populations have since been established, one at Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona, 30 miles north of the Grand Canyon, and one at the Ventana Wilderness Refuge, near Big Sur, California.
Condors, like their smaller turkey vulture cousins, are carrion-feeders, which means they only eat animals they find already dead.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
