Whooping Crane Conservation Association

Ensuring Gaudalupe River Flows from the Hill Country to the Coast Updates from The Aransas Project – MAY 10,2010

The Whooping Crane Conservation Association has reprinted three editorials forwarded to us from The Aransas Project.The Aransas Project is striving to assure that the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and associates estuaries receive adequate water supplies from inland watersheds. As you know, if you have read articles on this web page over the past several years, whooping cranes require suitable habitats to survive. Water is a key element. But adequate water is not assured, and certainly not without a fight. There are numerous people on our planet who do not give a dam about whooping cranes or any other endangered species. As the human population continues to increase such problems will increase.Our Association has worked for many years to protect whooping cranes and their habitats. But it is now crunch time and we must do more. To gain more insight, read the following two editorials and the letter to the editor. If this baffles you, scan down to the next article or click on the following links for background information.

The Big Whoop by Morgan Smith – The Texas Tribune

Victoria Advocate Editorials Dismiss Aransas County Concerns About Freshwater
Two recent editorials appearing in the Victoria Advocate, one by the Advocate editorial board and one by the Victoria Economic Development Corporation (VEDC)highlight the disregard for Aransas County when making decisions involving large-scale water allocations from the Guadalupe River (see editorials below).

Both opinion pieces authored in Victoria County include repeated references to water in the Guadalupe River as our water.? While acknowledging the good folks of Aransas County? who also need this water, VEDCs Mr. Fowler urges, there are very few projects that will allow us to trade a portion of our water resource for such value.? The Victoria Advocate editorial board chimes in, Let keep our water here.?

We have already seen that the Guadalupe River cannot sustain existing water commitments during periods of low-flow and deliver sufficient freshwater inflows to sustain our bays and estuaries. Yet the Victoria Advocate and Mr. Fowler urge Victoria County to snap up this water for a proposed Exelon nuclear power plant before someone else does, for a plant that may never be built. This approach presents a false choice of one community vs. another that will harm both Victoria and Aransas County in the long run.

The shortsightedness urged by the Advocate and Mr. Fowler stands in stark contrast to the letter to the editor that ran the same day by Dr. Ron Outen, Regional Director of The Aransas Project (see below). In his letter, Dr. Outen urged Victoria and its mayor, Will Armstrong, to make these important water decisions based on sound science and proper resource management. Outen explains that, TAP’s position is that the river should be managed top to bottom for the benefit of all of Texas, including coastal communities.?
Read These Editorials and Comment on the Advocate Website (www.victoriaadvocate.com).

Read the complete editorials at the links below. If you feel so moved, we encourage you to leave a comment on any of the three pieces voicing that this water is a precious resource to be balanced and distributed basin-wide for the good of all who depend on it:

VEDC Editorial (letter cut and pasted below)
Victoria Advocate Editorial Board (letter cut and pasted below)
TAP’s Dr. Ron Outen, Letter to Editor (letter cut and pasted below)
———————————————————————–
Let’s keep our resources here

By the Advocate Editorial Board
Originally published April 19, 2010

Plain and simple: If we don’t allow Exelon accessibility to 75,000-acre feet of water, somebody else will take it because of the H2O’s marketability. That somebody else will likely be some large municipality.

These are not new water rights, according to Jerry James, director of Victoria’s environmental services and alternate member of the Region L’s board. James said the water rights were permitted in the late 1940s to the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority and to the Dow Chemical Co. And that makes those “senior” water rights. In other words, GBRA and DOW have first dibs on that water.

GBRA and DOW are merely leasing those rights to Exelon should the nuclear power company build here in Victoria County.

“The termination date of the reservation agreement is Dec. 31, 2013,” said Bill West, GBRA general manager.

Exelon, should it decide to construct its nuclear power plant in Victoria County, will have a huge impact on our area’s economy. The column by Victoria Economic Development Corporation president Dale Fowler on today’s Viewpoints page outlines that economic impact. We cannot afford to lose the chance for this power plant in our county.

Concerns that there isn’t enough water have come from neighboring Aransas County, groups and organizations and individuals. We think the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority wouldn’t promise this amount of water if we didn’t have it. And Exelon officials have said if there isn’t enough water, they won’t build.

“Exelon has done extensive studies to assure itself that the 75,000-acre feet of water out of the Guadalupe River, along with its proposed off-channel reservoir, will provide its project the necessary dependable water supply,” West said.

No doubt, if Exelon doesn’t exercise its option to use the reserved water, somebody else will.

“GBRA’s water rights authorize the water to be used for municipal, industrial and agricultural purposes throughout GBRA’s 10-county statutory district,” West added.

James speculated that if Exelon did not use the water, “it could go to San Antonio – anywhere it’s marketable.”

Let’s keep our water here. Let’s keep it for Exelon, which in turn will provide the biggest boost to our economy in several decades.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate’s editorial board.

___________________________________________

Water for economy is good tradeoff

Originally published April 19, 2010 a

In September of 2006, I met Exelon representatives for the first time, and in December of 2007, Exelon announced that Victoria would be the site of their next nuclear electric generation station.

I remember a crowded room of public officials and local business people and the high degree of enthusiasm that filled the air. Exelon was proposing to build a multi-billion dollar facility that would eventually employee at least 700 to 800 people with salaries averaging $70,000 per year. These new jobs would translate into increased business in almost every other sector of the local economy and our unemployment rate at that time was at 3.4 percent.

Fast forward three years and Exelon still has a strong interest in Victoria County being home to a nuclear power station. Exelon’s interest is evidenced by their recent filing for an Early Site Permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In spite of Exelon’s interest, there have been changes – changes primarily due to the down turn in the national economy in general and the electricity market in Texas.

Our goal as a community is to help facilitate Exelon’s high interest level in our location because regardless of the time frame, next year or 10 years, we will benefit from their proposed project in South Victoria County.

One way this project is being facilitated is through Guadalupe Blanco River Authority’s willingness to reserve up to 75,000- acre feet of water for this eventual project and for the Region L Planning Group to maintain this project in their long-range plan.

Last week, I attended two public meetings in Victoria, the Region L Water Planning Group and the NRC public information meeting. At each of these meetings, there were a few folks who threw stones at the idea of holding water for this project or even allowing this project access to the water at all.

There were the good folks from Aransas County who expressed concerns for their economy should the river not flow enough and there were people from the big city who suggested that there may not be enough water for other prospective companies should Exelon come to the region.

The fact is that we continue to market this area to prospective industry, and GBRA assures us that their agreement with Exelon gives them flexibility should another suitor company come calling that needed water before Exelon makes a commitment to build.

Local leaders will help drive this decision should it be necessary. However, there are very few projects that will allow us to trade a portion of our water resource for such value.

Additionally, it is important for all to understand that Exelon has gone to great engineering lengths and great expense to design a water cooling system that will minimize their need to withdraw water from the river during times of low flow. The proposed cooling lake of almost 4,900 acres will be 20 feet deep. This lake will allow Exelon to sustain operations while taking little or no water from the river for an extended period time. The normal consumptive water use is estimated to be only 2.6 percent of the
daily river flow based on a 60-year average. The engineering studies that have been done so far all indicate adequate water supply for this project and Exelon assures us that they will not build a plant should adequate water not exist.

All of this concern over how we as a community and GBRA use our available water resource assumes that we will always have the ability to make that decision.

As we see the next census unfold, I believe Texas will emerge as one of the fastest growing states in the nation and the metro areas will certainly be where the major growth is and will continue to take place. These major metropolitan areas have the legislative clout to get the water they need,
taking water and jobs.

The only way we are assured any long-term value for the water that now flows past our region is to dedicate it for such a project as Exelon would propose.

We do have to decide if the new jobs and increasing pay roll is worth the trade for a resource that big cities can take. Fast forward three years and our unemployment rate is 8.2 percent.

You tell me, do we need the jobs?

Dale Fowler is a resident of Victoria and the president of the Victoria
Economic Development Corporation.

__________________________________

Working on sound H2O management

Originally published April 16, 2010

Editor, the Advocate:

The April 1 article, “Local residents comment at Edwards Aquifer Recovery planning meeting,” reported comments by Mayor Armstrong concerning a “.big burden with the whooping cranes.” Armstrong reportedly told Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Program (EARIP) officials, “[m]y challenge to you is to use scientific information to make your decisions not the very, very wealthy lawyers that are going to get a whole lot wealthier over this.”

As a scientist and the regional director for The Aransas Project (TAP), I find these comments to be off the mark.

In Aransas County, we treasure the bays, the wildlife, fishing and the cranes. These are not a “burden”; they are the basis of a regional tourism economy. Fishermen and birders worldwide seek out these bays.

Freshwater inflows are essential for healthy bays, and the bays nourished by the Guadalupe support some of the most productive fisheries and birding areas along the Texas Coast.

I agree that these decisions should be based on sound science. Science tells us that without adequate freshwater, the entire bay ecosystem is harmed, including the whooping cranes. Historic data shows a correlation between Guadalupe River flows and crane mortality. We lost 23 whoopers due to low flows during winter 2008-09, and commercial and sports fisheries collapsed as well, all because of high salinity in the bays.

Science, as well as common sense, tells us the Guadalupe is already over-allocated and the situation is going to get worse without responsible management. TAP’s position is that the river should be managed “top to bottom” for the benefit of all of Texas, including coastal communities.

Unfortunately, EARIP’s scope includes neither the Whooping Crane nor river flows downstream to the Coast. Even if EARIP secures aquifer spring flows to protect species downstream, EARIP can’t ensure that any of this water will actually reach the coastal bays that depend on the Guadalupe.

Surely, in Victoria County, any reasonable discussion about water allocation would include the basinwide impact of GBRA selling 24 billion gallons of water annually from the Guadalupe to Exelon for its proposed nuclear plant. This proposed project demonstrates the need for decisions based on sound science and proper resource management.

I invite Mayor Armstrong to come down to Rockport and get acquainted with us. TAP is about putting fundamental fairness and sound science into water management. It’s also about protecting a regional economy and the most recognizable endangered species in North America.

Dr. Ron Outen, Rockport

To read the article by Morgan Smith as appeared in The Texas Tribune please click on the link below.
The Big Whoop by Morgan Smith – The Texas Tribune

(Corpus Christi, TX — March 11, 2010) The Aransas Project (TAP) filed a federal lawsuit today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, against several officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their official capacities for illegal harm and harassment of Whooping Cranes at and adjacent to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The defendants named in the suit in their official capacities are the three TCEQ Commissioners, the agency’s Executive Director, and the TCEQ’s South Texas Watermaster.
(To read the entire Press Release (PDF) please click here.)

NEWS RELEASE from the U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE
January 21, 2010

For more information on the project and its partners, visit the WCEP website at: http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.

Ten endangered whooping cranes arrived yesterday on their wintering grounds at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Citrus County, Florida. The other 10 “Class of 2009” ultralight-led cranes reached their final wintering destination at St. Marks NWR in Wakulla County, Florida on January 13.

These 20 cranes are the ninth group to be guided by ultralight aircraft more than 1,200 miles from Necedah NWR in central Wisconsin to the Gulf coast of Florida. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public and private organizations, is conducting the reintroduction project in an effort to restore this endangered species to part of its historic range in eastern North America. At 89 days, this was the second longest ultralight-led migration since WCEP began reintroducing whooping cranes. Unsuitable flying weather caused delays along the migration route.

“This Class of 2009 brings another exciting year for this great partnership, and it gets us one step closer to seeing the recovery of this magnificent species,” said Michael Lusk, Refuge Manager at Chassahowitzka NWR. “The staff at Chassahowitzka NWR worked hard to make sure that everything was ready for the arrival of the birds. We are very excited to be a part of this project and to be able to share our excitement with our partners at the St. Marks NWR.”

This is the second year the cranes have wintered at two separate locations. The decision to split the flock came after the loss in February 2007 of 17 of the 18 Class of 2006 whooping cranes in a severe storm at Chassahowitzka NWR. WCEP hopes the two wintering locations will help reduce the risk of another catastrophic loss.

In addition to the 20 birds led south by project partner Operation Migration’s ultralights, nine cranes made their first southward migration this fall as part of WCEP’s Direct Autumn Release (DAR) program. Biologists from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reared the cranes at Necedah NWR and released them in the company of older cranes from whom the young birds learned the migration route. One of the DAR birds arrived in Lake County, Florida earlier this month. Seven of the cranes migrated to Tennessee and one is located in Indiana. All of the DAR birds are in the company of older whooping cranes. This is the fifth year WCEP has used this DAR method.

Whooping cranes that take part in the ultralight and DAR reintroductions are hatched at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., and at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. Chicks are raised under a strict isolation protocol and to ensure the birds remain wild, handlers adhere to a no-talking rule and wear costumes designed to mask the human form.

In 2001, Operation Migration’s pilots led the first whooping crane chicks, conditioned to follow their ultralight aircraft surrogates, south from Necedah NWR to Chassahowitzka NWR. Each subsequent year, WCEP biologists and pilots have conditioned and guided additional groups of juvenile cranes to Chassahowitzka NWR. Once led south, the cranes are able to migrate on their own, without assistance, in following years.

In the spring and fall, project staff from the International Crane Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service track and monitor the released cranes in an effort to learn as much as possible about their unassisted journeys and the habitat choices they make both along the way and on their summering and wintering grounds.

Most graduated classes of whooping cranes spend the summer in central Wisconsin, where they use areas on or near the Necedah NWR, as well as other public and private lands.

Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s. Today, there are only about 550 birds in existence, approximately 375 of them in the wild. Aside from the 85 birds reintroduced by WCEP, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests at the Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories of Canada and winters at the Aransas NWR on the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migrating flock of approximately 30 birds lives year-round in the central Florida Kissimmee region.

Whooping cranes, named for their loud and penetrating unison calls, live and breed in wetland areas, where they feed on crabs, clams, frogs and aquatic plants. They are distinctive animals, standing five feet tall, with white bodies, black wing tips and red crowns on their heads.

WCEP asks anyone who encounters a whooping crane in the wild to please give them the respect and distance they need. Do not approach birds on foot within 200 yards; try to remain in your vehicle; do not approach in a vehicle within 100 yards. Also, please remain concealed and do not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Finally, do not trespass on private property in an attempt to view whooping cranes.

Many other flyway states, provinces, private individuals and conservation groups have joined forces with and support WCEP by donating resources, funding and personnel. More than 60 percent of the project’s budget comes from private sources in the form of grants, public donations and corporate sponsors.

To report whooping crane sightings, visit the WCEP whooping crane observation webpage at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/whoopingcrane/sightings/sightingform.cfm.

By: NORMA MARTINEZ, Managing Editor Rockport Pilot
Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 12:22 AM CST

Representatives from The Aransas Project (AP) were on hand at last week’s Chamber of Commerce luncheon to explain why the organization exists and to encourage others to join the nonprofit organization.

The Aransas Project founders are focused on supporting a Texas water management policy for the Guadalupe River Basin (GRB) and its bays which takes into consideration the entire system in a reasonable, sustainable, and environmentally sound matter.

The AP is an alliance of organizations, communities, families and citizens who seek legislated change in the water management of the GRB. AP members believe environmental flow standards for the GRB are essential to support the bays and estuaries, particularly during times of drought. Currently with no environmental flows standards in place, there is no freshwater committed to protect the bays and estuaries. As a result, AP members believe the management practices of the state of Texas are partly or wholly responsible for the deaths of the 8.5 percent of the whooping crane flock in the winter of 2008-09.

The Aransas area includes a number of estuaries and bays like San Antonio, Mesquite, Carlos, St. Charles and Aransas, as well as the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The latter is the winter habitat of the federally endangered whooping crane. The record breaking death toll of the whooping crane indicates not enough freshwater is reaching the bays and estuaries.

This area is also dependent on tourism and commercial and recreational fishing, all reliant on the health of the bays. The habitats and ecosystems of the area bays and estuaries are dependent on freshwater inflows of the GRB. Aransas Bay begins where the river ends. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority’s jurisdiction ends at San Antonio Bay, but the way it manages the GRB impacts Aransas.

The Texas Legislature recenty directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to focus on environmental flows and their importance to the health of bays and estuaries. AP founders state while it is obvious attention should be paid to San Antonio Bay, it may not be as obvious decisions made throughout the GRB impact the ANWR as well as Aransas Bay.

A recently completed study using state water models show the impact of reduced freshwater inflows from the Guadalupe. They show the current water diversion have a dramatic effect on the Aransas area. In years of drought, the salinity levels of the bays and estuaries increase and thus adversely impact species such as the blue crab and brown shrimp. They must travel to find freshwater for sustainability, and if none is to be found, they can not survive.

Area fisherman describe this year as the worst the region has seen for the blue crab and brown shrimp and link that impact to the drought. They also note future diversions will dramatically increase the salinity level and widen the number of species to be impacted.

In order to reduce that increased salinity, increased freshwater inflows from the Guadalupe are necessary. AP members also point to another critical indicator of the need for freshwater inflows – whooping cranes. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects such species as well as “the ecosystem upon which they depend.” Therefore, protecting whoopers is about more than just preserving an endangered species.

In 1941, the whooping crane population numbered only 16 birds. Since then, conservation efforts restoreds the world’s only naturally migrating flock to include more than 250 birds. They breed in Canada and winter at the ANWR. Its continued survival is at risk due to the loss of its primary food source, blue crabs. The diminished number of blue crabs has been linked directly to increased salinity levels around the ANWR.

As aforementioned, the winter of 2008-09 was the worst in recent history for whooping cranes wintering at the refuge. The flock experienced the death of 23 birds, which included 16 juveniles. That represents a 42 percent loss in the total number of juveniles. The second worst year was the winter of 1990-91, when 11 birds out of 146 (7.5 percent) of the flock died.

Scientific data behind the deaths shows the reduction in freshwater inflows from the GRB has directly impacted the number of blue crabs and subsequently impacted the whooping crane population.

Using state water models to run different scenarios, salinity studies projected by the AP consulting scientists show proposed future diversions of water from the Guadalupe will dramatically increase the salinity levels in the bays and estuaries along the Texas coast.

Not only will this impact the whooping crane, but it will also have a devastating effect on the fishing, recreational and tourism economy.

The AP founders also believe the bays and estuaries dependent on the Guadalupe River System are at risk. In 2002, American Rivers named the Guadalupe as one of America’s most endangered rivers, citing a significant amount of water diversion and the lack of any commitment to maintain sufficient river flow as main threats. It was noted the increasing demand for water resources has forced the GBRA to focus its planning efforts on municipal and industrial needs rather than environmental needs of the bays and estuaries of the Texas coast. As a result, the coast is not a priority in Texas water planning.

AP founders emphasize the approach for managing the water resources of the GRB must change or there is a risk of devastating economic and environmental damage to the Texas Coast.

They emphasize better planning processes are needed to ensure future water permits are not excessive and instream flows to the bays are sufficient. They state the GBRA is trying to “grab all the water it can” primarily to sell to upper basin industrial and municipal users. The water, however, is needed downstream to protect the bays and estuaries with freshwater inflows which are needed to maintain the habitat of the whooping crane, as well as that of crabs and fish. The GBRA has pointed this responsibility to the TCEQ so it is up to that agency to maintain beneficial inflows protecting the bays and estuaries.

Therefore AP members will file a notice of intent to sue the TCEQ for violation of section 9 of the Federal Endangered Species Act. Through the litigation, TCEQ’s system of water management and rights will be held accountable for the harm to whooping cranes. The desired outcome is it will result in legislative changes in the water management of the GRB, including higher environmental flow standards for the bays and estuaries.

Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator,U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has prepared a lengthy, detailed report concerning the 2008 – 2009 whooping crane population. The following summary of the report provides much new information. To read the entire report, you may download it by clicking here. The download is a PDF file.

The Aransas-Wood Buffalo population (AWBP) of whooping cranes reached a record population of 270 at Aransas in December, 2008. The number would have been substantially higher but for the loss of 34 birds that left Aransas in the spring, 2008 and failed to return in the fall. Faced with food shortages from an “exceptional” drought that hammered Texas, record high mortality during the 2008-09 winter of 23 cranes (8.5% of the flock) left the AWBP at 247 in the spring, 2009. Total flock mortality for the 12 months following April, 2008 equaled 57 birds (21.4% of the flock). The refuge provided supplemental feed during the 2008-09 winter to provide some cranes with additional calories. Two whooping cranes failed to migrate north, but survived the hot and dry 2009 Aransas summer.

A below-average 2009 production year in Canada with 22 fledged chicks from 62 nests was half the production of the previous summer and is expected to result in a break-even year for the AWBP. Threats to the flock including land and water development in Texas, the spread of black mangrove on the wintering grounds, and wind farm construction in the migration corridor all remained unabated in 2009.

The Cooperative Whooping Crane Tracking Project documented 79 confirmed sightings of whooping cranes in the U.S. Central Flyway during fall, 2008 and 38 sightings in spring, 2009.

The captive flocks had a very good production season in 2009. Twenty-nine chicks were reintroduced into the eastern migratory population, bringing that flock to 106 total birds. Three chicks of high genetic value were held back for the captive flocks.

Production in the wild from reintroduced flocks in 2009 was disappointing. In Florida because of the continuing drought, only 4 of 11 pairs nested and fledged 1 chick. In Wisconsin, all 12 nesting pairs abandoned their nests. Five or 6 pairs re-nested hatching 2 chicks, but neither chick survived. The major hurdle of nest abandonment in Wisconsin must be overcome for that reintroduction to have a chance of success. Although efforts to clear this hurdle should continue, the Recovery Team recommended starting reintroductions in different areas, both looking for other release sites in Wisconsin for the migratory whooping cranes, and starting a nonmigratory flock in Louisiana.

In 2009, total production could not quite keep up with mortality, with the total population of wild and captive birds dropping from 538 to 534 during a12-month period. The drop was primarily due to the high mortality experienced by the AWBP.

8/25/2009, 6:21 p.m. CDT
MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER
The Associated Press
(AP) – KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The world’s only naturally migrating whooping cranes, and the species’ best chance for survival, died at about twice their normal rate last year and will likely see an overall drop in their numbers, a worrying sign for the once near-extinct bird that has been making a comeback. The whooping crane-the tallest bird in North America at 5 1/2 feet (1 1/2 meters) tall-numbered just 15 in 1941 but now numbers 539 and is considered a success story by conservationists.

There are three North American flocks but only one that migrates without human help, traveling every autumn from northern Canada to the Gulf Coast in Texas. Normally, about 10 percent of the flock dies off each year, but last year about 21 percent died off. Including new births, this year’s flock is expected to drop by about 20 birds from last year’s 270 when counted after returning to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge this fall, said Tom Stehn, who oversees efforts to help the whooping crane for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That would mark the first population decline for the flock since 2002. “We’re trying to figure out what’s killing all these whooping cranes,”Stehn said. That flock typically grows by about six birds each year, but it dropped 19 birds between April 2008 to April 2009, as 57 of the flock’s 266 birds died and were replaced by just 38 surviving hatchlings.

Hatchlings aren’t counted in the total population until they have made it to Aransas, outside Corpus Christi, Texas. This year only 52 birds hatched to the flock-a six-year low-and only 22 of those survived, Stehn said. “It’s disappointing,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out this year.” The flock’s population tends to dip about once each decade, but last year’s spring decline was so sharp and unexpected it was “alarming,”
Stehn said.

Because the flock that migrates 2,400 miles (3,860 kilometers) from Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Canada’s boreal forest to Aransas is the only self-sustaining flock, it is the species’ best chance for
survival, he said.

Whooping crane chicks from a flock in central Wisconsin are guided to Florida by ultralight aircraft. A third flock in central Florida that was heavily managed does not migrate and has not been reproducing. “The species remains so very endangered, and the threats are rising,” Stehn said.

It’s difficult to know exactly how the birds die in part because they’re not individually tracked and their 200-mile (320-kilometer) wide migration corridor is so large.

One likely cause for the population decline could be changes in habitat, Stehn said. A drought in Texas severely affected the whooping crane’s foods of blue crabs and berries. Corn feeders were set up to supplement the cranes’ diets, but only about half of them used the feeders. And wetlands and prairie have been making way for cornfields along parts of the flock’s flyway, which runs from northern Canada through Montana and the Dakotas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas. Birds are also threatened by disease, including infectious bursal disease, which was found in cranes in Florida in 2002 and again in one bird in the Aransas flock last year.
(c) 2009 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Brian Johns, Wildlife Biologist,Canadian Wildlife Service writes WCCA that: “It is with mixed feelings that I write this note. As some of you know I have had a very enjoyable 36 year career with the Canadian WildlifeService.

My first day on the job was May 1, 1973. Over the last 3.5 decades I have had the opportunity to work on whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, loggerhead shrike, grassland and boreal songbirds and even the odd duck. It has all been fun. There is no perfect time to go, however I have been contemplating retirement for a while and am thinking that the time is near for leaving government and forging ahead. In preparation for that, Lea Craig-Moore has been conducting the surveys this summer.

Not being in the field earlier this year has allowed me to celebrate my anniversary at home with my wife Dianne and see my apple trees in blossom. This is something I haven’t had in a long time. I will still be doing the fledging success surveys later this month.”

Brian explains that, “The Aransas/Wood Buffalo cranes have had a tough year but in my experience they are not only beautiful creatures, they are resilient and have gone through adversity before and came out strong. Hopefully this is just another one of those periodic dips in their 10 year cycle. This doesn’t mean that we can be complacent, we must still remain vigilant in our efforts. A total of 62 nesting pairs have been found this summer, only 4 fewer than the all time high.”

Brian states, “I have learned so much from the cranes and all of you who care so much about them. My days in the field and at meetings with you have been inspiring. Thanks for your dedication to whooping crane recovery and
support over the years, it is truly appreciated. I especially want to thank Tom Stehn, Lea Craig-Moore, Jim Bredy, Kathy St. Laurent and my friends and colleagues in Fort Smith. Thanks also to my friends and colleagues with Canadian Wildlife Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geological Survey, Parks Canada, Governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Florida, Wisconsin, Calgary Zoo, International Crane Foundation, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Platte River Trust, Species Survival Center, Whooping Crane Conservation Association, Operation Migration, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership and all those that I have had the opportunity to work with over the years. Thanks again!”

Brian tells us, “Please remember, I am not gone, I have just moved over a bit, so feel free to pick my brain at any time. I will still be around the office for a couple of months yet. Long live cranes! Brian”

By Anton Caputo – Express-News

The severe drought gripping Texas is turning a promising year for the endangered whooping crane into the second-deadliest on record.

Eighteen of the majestic birds have died in their winter home on the coast this season, likely because of food and water shortages caused by the record drought, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge Manager Dan Alonso said.

The 18 birds represent almost 7 percent of the flock’s population this season. The highest mortality rate on record was 1990 when 7.5 percent of the flock died while wintering in Texas.

The desperate situation has prompted wildlife biologists to break a “wildlife management taboo” and put out corn and water to help the birds make it through the winter.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also is making efforts to more stringently enforce its no-crabbing rules within the 115,000-acre confines of the refuge. That’s an attempt to save the dwindling population of blue crabs for the whooping cranes.

“That is what we are presently doing to help the whooping crane get back on their feet or at least keep any more from dying,” Alonso said.

The cranes will migrate within the next month on their 2,400-mile journey to their summer home in Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.

Standing 5 feet tall, the whooping crane is one of the most iconic and endangered birds in the world.

Habitat loss and hunting nearly wiped out the species in the past century. The number of cranes dipped to as low as 15 in 1945and the crane was declared endangered in 1970.

But a concerted effort to bring back the birds has been successful. Last year, there were 500 whooping cranes in North America for the first time in a century. And the Texas flock, which is the last wild migratory flock in the world, hit a record 270 this season before the die-off.

Most agree that the record-setting drought afflicting Texas is behind this year’s high mortality. But one dead bird also tested positive for a virus that has been detected in a captive whooping crane flock in Florida. It’s the first time the virus has appeared in the wild Texas flock.

“They are running a number of tests to determine what else might be present,” Alonso said. “There could be other issues out there that we are not aware of.”

Many have pointed directly to the drought’s impact on the state’s blue crab population as a likely cause of the strain on the whooping crane flock. Alonso said many of the areas surveyed in the refuge that typically contain blue crab were devoid of the critters this year. Blue crabs, which can make up as much as 85 percent of the bird’s diet, require a freshwater inflow in the coastal estuaries for a healthy habitat.

Norman Boyd of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said blue crab numbers have been running low in the Guadalupe estuary since the mid 1990s, and he cautioned against blaming the current lack of fresh water solely on the downfall of the whooping crane’s favorite food. The state is investigating a number of possible causes, he said, and over-fishing may be one of them.

“Make no mistake, freshwater inflows are very important to crabs, but it’s hard to pin down a one-to-one relationship in our crab catch rate and freshwater inflows,” Boyd said. “Our catch rate has dropped off during the past decade and we’ve had wet years since then and we don’t see the crab population spiking during those wet years.”
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