International Crane Foundation debuts $10.4 million renovation
Twice a year, fall and spring, the almost deafening call of Sandhill cranes echo across the sky and land of Wisconsin. Known as one of the oldest bird species having been in existence for more than ten-million years or more, Sandhills are only one of fifteen types of cranes. The only place in the world that people can view all fifteen types of cranes that live on five continents is at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Having started on a small parcel of land back in 1973, the International Crane Foundation (ICF) recently debuted its 10.4-million-dollar renovation called Cranes of the World on Saturday, May 1st.
The foundation was founded by Dr. George Archibald and Dr. Ronald Sauey, two men that have dedicated their lives to the conservation of all crane species and their habitats world-wide.
“The reason that the International Crane Foundation is situated here in Baraboo and in Sauk County, is because Ron's parents had a horse farm out about two miles down the road on County Highway A, and they were hoping to move to warmer climate,” said Managing Director Darcy Love. She continued, “And they decided that they would rent their property, their farm, to Ron and George for $1 a year, so that they could start the International Crane Foundation.”
The vision for the foundation was to bring every species of crane to Baraboo to establish a species bank for these birds because 11 of the 15 species, even in 1973, were considered endangered or threatened.
Love said there were Sandhill cranes in the area, but there were no whooping cranes in Wisconsin at the time. With Sandhills and Whooping cranes, the only two of the species of cranes that live on the North American continent, the Sandhill cranes had suffered as well, primarily from loss of habitat. As agriculture started claiming wetland areas, those birds lost vital nesting habitat. But Wisconsin started protecting their habitat and the Sandhills rebounded quickly.
Overall, populations in the 1940’s were at about 25 nesting pairs of Sandhills in Wisconsin to a present estimated 15,000 nesting pairs. “So, it's a huge success story,” exclaimed Love.
Aldo Leopold, who is the father of the conservation, the land ethic, protecting the land and nurturing it for future generations, thought he would see the extirpation of Sandhills. He thought they would go extinct in the state. Today, they are the most abundant species in North America and in the world of cranes with world populations of the species believed to range from 800 to 900,000. In contrast, there are an estimated 800 individual Whooping cranes in the world, unfortunately earning the title rarest of the crane species. Similar to Sandhill cranes, the 1940’s Whooping crane population dropped to very low numbers, a low that saw an estimated 20 birds left in the world.
“One of the things that the Crane Foundation is known for, is helping to bring that species back from the brink of extinction. We've worked extensively with other organizations and created coalitions to help in the areas where we need land protected, where we need expertise and genetics, so that the tiny population can produce cranes that are healthy for future generations,” Love said.
The protecting of flyways across the country is accomplished by a consortium of people who are dedicated to making sure that people will enjoy whooping cranes on the landscape far into the future and that they will thrive. Encouraged, Love said, “We work with local communities to help them understand why it's important for cranes to be in their neighborhoods and to protect the areas that they need to survive. So that's really how the International Crane Foundation became known to the world.”
The foundation had a very famous Whooping crane named Tex who was at the time she hatched in 1976, an important addition to about 100 Whooping cranes left in the world. See, Dr. Archibald became her surrogate mate.
“It was so quirky. He danced with a crane because cranes dance to bond with one another, and they mate for life. So, he would dance with Tex and get her into breeding condition. They would artificially inseminate her and she would lay an egg. We only got one chick that survived to adulthood from Tex, then she (the chick) was killed three weeks later. He told this story on the Johnny Carson Show, and immediately the whole world knew about this conservation effort. We became known more broadly, and gained support and that just helped elevate our status as an organization,” Love shared.
While Dr. Archibald was working with Tex in 1984, the foundation received a pair of Black Necked cranes from China. Those cranes completed their collection of all 15 species from around the world. Love said, “We still to this day are the only place you can come to see all 15 species. We've hatched every species here on the property.”
In the late 70’s, it became clear the foundation had outgrown their original space. “We really needed more room because people would drop in to visit. They would hear about these exotic birds in Baraboo and what was going on, and they would just drop in to see what was happening,” said Love.
Dr. Archibald saw it as a real opportunity to help educate people about the birds, conservation around the world, and what they needed to survive. Love shared Dr. Archibald’s and Dr. Sauey’s next step. “So, they started looking for property around the area nearby. Because they still loved this region, Dr. Ron Sawey came out in the middle of January, snow on the ground, and was snowshoeing around this property and saw prairie plants that were plants that were only found in remnant prairie, so never cultivated land, and realize the importance of that. They purchased this property; we now are at, about 250 acres all together.”
Love pointed out that the remnant prairie area is called Sandy Knoll. “It is the southern edge of the foundation’s restoration area. So, we have about 125 acres in prairie Oak savanna and wetland restoration. It's a living classroom so we bring people here from all around the world to come in and learn how they can protect and restore their native landscapes for a healthier planet wherever they live. And that provides habitat for not just cranes, but countless others.”
Love said they hope to be able to resume bringing those colleagues here for training in the near future whenever that's possible with this pandemic. She also acknowledged that the International Crane Foundation is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Their AZA accreditation provides them with a network of about 150 zoos and aquariums around the country that they collaborate with. The foundation also participates in a Species Survival Plan that guides the captive propagation of species for captivity, so that the foundation does not draw from popular wild populations of animals.
Over the years, a need to expand and renovate was realized. This triggered discussions and planning today’s completed renovation. “So, we opened here in about 1983 in the new location. The renovation began in November of 2018. Between that time, we had done a renovation to what we call ‘Spirit of Africa’, and provided larger exhibits and water features in each of those exhibits for the four non-migratory species of cranes found in Africa. ‘Spirit of Africa’ opened in 2009. Around 1993, we opened the Whooping crane exhibit, which is an amphitheater that you walk into with a huge wetland. This allows fence reviewing between you and the birds. When you look, it looks like you're sitting out in the open. The fences are completely camouflage. That's where our pair of whooping cranes nest,” Love said with a smile.
“We haven't had chicks in there for a while but, hopefully we can have chicks in that exhibit in the future. When we started reintroducing Whooping cranes back into the wild, all those chicks went to that effort. There's something called the imprinting of chicks so they get used to people. It's not good for a wild existence so they were not on exhibit.”
The facility’s construction was supposed to last about 14 months, and when COVID hit, Love said the renovation was close to completion and opening to the public. “We were this close to open, and we had to shut down, actually not even the construction people could come in and finish. We had only essential staff, which meant the bird care staff, basically, and some site facilities, but otherwise nobody was here. It set us back quite a bit. Up until then, we were ahead of schedule, so it was very frustrating.”
Love said that the foundation has not enlarged their footprint in terms of how much acreage they use for exhibits, rather how effectively they use the property. “So again, we have larger exhibits, with every exhibit featuring a water feature and everyone has a pond in their exhibit, which they didn't have before. The exhibits also feature gorgeous murals that are backdrops for the exhibits. Those help us tell the story of where those birds live in the wild, what countries they're in, and how they coexist with the people that live in those areas. The murals were all painted by artist Jay Jocham. It took him about 12 months to paint six murals, and then we decided we wanted one more. So, he's going to be painting another one starting next week probably, in our Wattle crane exhibit, one of our older exhibits.”
The foundation, because of COVID, decided they we would be a little more cautious. When they started planning the opening, guidelines were even more restrictive. Now that things across Wisconsin have opened up, Love said the foundation is focusing on being adaptive to the current situation and open more fully as able. “We put a reservation system in place for people so that they can go to our website savingcranes.org, click on the 'visit us page’ where there are instructions on how to go through the registration process. We are hoping that we don't have to have that reservation system in place for very much longer. Hopefully, by June, we won't have it anymore.” Love stressed that the foundation will absolutely honor any reservations that were made at that point, and but hopes the system will not be necessary after June.
“Our big celebration right now is being planned for September. We have a board meeting that coincides with the date that we're looking at, September 18th, I believe. So somewhere around that weekend, we're gonna have our grand reopening celebration, when everybody can really be together without any anxiety,” said Love enthusiastically.
For more information visit: https://www.savingcranes.org/ or visit them on Facebook.
