Newsgroups: bit.listserv.biosph-l
Date:         Sun, 11 Oct 1992 09:46:26 EDT
Reply-To:     "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
From:         "Norman C. Saunders" <NYS@NIHCU.BITNET>
Subject:      Whooping Cranes To Be Reintroduced to Florida

Fish and Wildlife Service
For Release: October 1, 1992

Tom Thomas, Atlanta, GA  404-331-3594
Georgia Parham, Washington, DC  202-208-5634
Tom Smylie, Albuquerque, NM  505-766-3940

                  Endangered Whooping Cranes proposed
                    For Reintroduction Into Florida

     The stately  whooping crane,  the flagship  species of the nation's
endangered species  recovery program,  has been proposed for reintroduc-
tion into  the State  of Florida.   The project is a joint effort of the
Interior Department's  U.S. Fish  and  Wildlife  Service,  the  Canadian
Wildlife Service, and the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.

     The proposal  announced in the September 29, 1992 Federal Register,
calls for  the release  of from  9 to 12 juvenile whooping cranes within
the state's  Three  Lakes  Wildlife  Management  Area  in  south-central
Florida, approximately  75 miles  northwest of Vero Beach.  The reintro-
duction site  is part  of the nearly 260,000-acre Kissimmee Prairie  re-
gion of  Florida, more  than half  of which is in public ownership.  The
release could take place as early as November or December.

     At nearly  5 feet, whoopers are the tallest birds in North America.
Their wing  span can  grow to  more than 7 feet.  Adults are snowy white
with black  wing tips.  A field naturalist reported a flock of 14 whoop-
ers in  Florida in  the early 1900s.  The last documented whooping crane
in Florida was shot near St. Augustine in 1927 or 1928.

     "The return  of the  magnificent whooping  crane to  Florida  is  a
highly significant  event, both  from  historic  and  biological  stand-
points," according  to Service Director John Turner.  "Florida is a part
of the  whooper's historic  range, so  its return  after some  50 to  60
years' absence  is most appropriate.  But more importantly, the proposed
reintroduction is  an effort to establish a second, self-sustaining wild
population   of whooping  cranes, which is a critical step in protecting
the species  from extinction and moving it forward along the road to re-
covery," he said.

     The whooping  crane was  named to  the Federal  list of  endangered
species   in 1967.   Today,  about 145 birds comprise the only remaining
self-sustaining natural  wild population  of whoopers in existence.  The
birds winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge  and adjacent areas
on the  Texas Gulf  Coast and  nest in  Wood Buffalo  National  Park  in
Canada's Northwest  Territories.   The flock rebounded from a population
low of 16 birds in the winter of 1941-42.

     Due to  its limited  wintering distribution  along the intracoastal
waterway   of the  Texas coast, the population is vulnerable to destruc-
tion from a natural catastrophe, such as a hurricane, red tide outbreak,
or contaminant  spill.   The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway handles some  of
the heaviest  barge traffic of petrochemical products in the world, cre-
ating the  possibility of  an accidental  spill that  could destroy  the
flock or  its food resources.  The establishment of additional self-sus-
taining wild flocks is outlined in the species' recovery plan as a safe-
guard against such catastrophic loss and a requisite for the downlisting
of the bird from endangered to threatened.

     The Florida  flock will be made up of captive-reared birds from the
Service's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, and the
International Crane  Foundation in  Baraboo, Wisconsin.  The birds to be
used in  the reintroduction  have been  conditioned for release into the
wild by being  reared in isolation from humans.


     In the  reintroduction proposal under consideration, the population
will be  designated "experimental non-essential."  This designation, au-
thorized by the Endangered Species Act, permits the Service to treat the
reintroduced population  as threatened and declares it not essential tot
he continued  survival of  the species.  The Service has more discretion
in managing  threatened species  than endangered  species, especially in
regard to  incidental or  regulated "takings."  Under the Act, "take" is
defined as  "to harass,  harm, pursue,  hunt, shoot,  wound, kill, trap,
capture or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct."

     The newly created Florida flock would be nonmigratory and remain in
the Kissimmee  Prairie region  year-round.   Studies of  whooping cranes
have shown migration is a learned rather than innate behavior.  The cap-
tive-reared cranes  are expected  to develop into a nonmigratory popula-
tion.

     Such a  population will have a greater chance of success, according
to biologists  on the  Whooping Crane  Recovery Team,  because the birds
would not  face the  hazards of  migration.   Furthermore,  nonmigratory
birds inhabit  a more  geographically limited  area, which will increase
the opportunity for the birds to find compatible mates.  Whooping cranes
are known  to mate for life, normally producing only one to two eggs per
year.

     Failure to mate and mortality during migration have hampered a pre-
vious Service  attempt to  establish a  second, migratory  wild flock of
whoopers at  Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge  in southeastern Idaho.
This project,  begun in  1975, involved sandhill cranes acting as foster
parents to  whooping crane  chicks, and  teaching them migration routes.
To date,  more than half of the fledged cranes have been lost during mi-
gration, and natural breeding has yet to occur.

     Federal and state biologists plan a "soft" release of the Kissimmee
Prairie whoopers.   The birds will initially be confined to conditioning
pens, open-topped  enclosures allowing them to gradually adjust to their
new surroundings.   The  birds' flight  will be restricted by using wing
restraints that prevent full wing extension.  After the conditioning pe-
riod, the  birds will  be fitted  with legband-mounted  radio  telemetry
transmitters.   The wing  restraints will  then be removed and the birds
will be  allowed to fly from the pen.  Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish
Commission biologists  will intensively  monitor the  whoopers  for  two
years to identify movements, habitat use and other behavior.  If results
from the  initial release  are favorable,  other release  may take place
late in 1994, with the goal of releasing 20 birds annually for 10 years.

     Florida's Kissimmee  Prairie was chosen as the site for reintroduc-
tion of  the whooping  crane because  of the suitability of its habitat.
The area currently sustains one of the largest and most productive popu-
lations of  Florida sandhill  cranes, a relative of the whooper, as well
as numerous  Federally listed   endangered  or threatened  species.  The
whooping crane will be added to the state list of endangered species be-
fore the releases are initiated.

     Kissimmee Prairie  has also  experienced limited impacts associated
with human  population growth over the past 30 years due to its distance
from   major population centers and the pattern of land ownership in the
area.   Eight large private ranches and seven public ownerships, includ-
ing the  National Audubon  Society Kissimmee Prairie Sanctuary and three
state wildlife management areas, compose the Kissimmee Prairie.

     Landowners have  been contacted concerning the proposed reintroduc-
tion and  will receive copies of the Federal Register notice by mail.  A
public meeting  on the  matter was  held March  12, 1992 in Kenansville,
Florida, near the reintroduction area.


     A copy  of the  proposal to  reintroduce the whooping cranes can be
obtained by  contacting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3100 Univer-
sity Boulevard  South, Suite  120, Jacksonville,  Florida    32216-2737.
The Service   will  collect written public comments on  the proposal for
30 days,  through October  29, 1992.   Respondents  may request a public
meeting to further discuss the proposal.

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