The Land Trust for Tennessee and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) successfully partnered to purchase 68 acres of critical wildlife habitat located along Blythe Ferry Road near the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. This essential acreage is now part of the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County thanks to the tremendous support of individuals, foundations and the community.
Category: Global Crane News
Dam-Dependent Zambezi Basin Unprepared for Climate Change
An in-depth study warns that new and proposed dams on Southern Africa’s largest river are ill-prepared to withstand the shocks of a changing climate. The result could be uneconomic dams that under-perform in the face of more extreme drought, and more dangerous dams that have not been designed to handle increasingly damaging floods.
Collaboration between US and Russian Scientists Protects Critical Breeding Habitat for Cranes
At the North American Crane Workshop in 2008, ICF had the pleasure to host our long-term colleague, Inga Bysykatova from the Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone (IBPC) in Yakutia, Russia. Inga had been studying Sandhill Cranes that migrated from Texas, across Alaska, to breed in the tundra in far eastern Russia.
President Putin Takes Wing in the “Flight of Hope” Project
On Wednesday, 5 September 2012, Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, participated in the “Flight of Hope” Project on the reintroduction of the endangered Siberian Crane in West Asia. The flight has drawn much needed worldwide attention to the conservation of this species.
Whooping Crane Tracking Partnership
In early August, ICF veterinarian Dr. Barry Hartup participated in his third annual research trip to western Canada to band wild Whooping Crane chicks on their remote summering area at Wood Buffalo National Park.
ICF Awarded Museums for America Program Grant
The International Crane Foundation (ICF) was recently awarded a $71,410 Museums for America Program Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to design and implement a management system for its collection of more than 35,000 digital assets.
ICF Plants the Seed for Solving Crane-Related Crop Damage
An effective solution for damage that Sandhill Cranes cause to planted corn seeds has been used in record amounts during the just-completed 2012 planting season and represents a win-win solution for both conservation and agriculture. Developed by the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and Arkion LLC, Avipel® has been available to farmers since 2006.
Travels in Muraviovka Park
In early June as the sun peeped over the horizon about 6:00 a.m. to brighten the distant hills of China, White-naped Cranes lifted from the early morning mists that often cover the great marshes of Russia’s Muraviovka Park. They flew silently into the light to reach a last year wheat field on the elevated terrace near the headquarters of the Park, to feed on leftover grain.
Linking Rural and Suburban Sandhill Cranes
Since 1990, ICF has banded over 400 Sandhill Cranes in central Wisconsin, one of the densest nesting populations of cranes known anywhere in the world (we annually track around 60 breeding territories in our 6,400 ha study area). The small leg bands and radio transmitters, the latter placed on a select number of cranes, allow our staff to identify and track individual birds – once we can identify individuals, we can follow their movements, form hypotheses about their behaviors, and test these ideas in the field.
Planning Big for Zambezi River Wetlands
Zambia is the third leg of my travels in Africa and a perfect final destination. Zambia is truly a wetland paradise, with eight “Wetlands of International Importance” under the Ramsar Convention covering a surface area of nearly 40,000 square kilometers. These include some of the most important wetlands in Africa for cranes.