International Crane Foundation
Encyclopedia
The International Crane Foundation (ICF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and conservation of the 15 species of cranes
. Founded in 1973, ICF moved to its current 225 acres (91 ha) headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin
, in 1984.
From the beginning, ICF was pledged to a mix of five essential activities: research, education, habitat protection, captive breeding and reintroduction. ICF tackled the extensive task of captive breeding of cranes, of which little experience or knowledge had previously existed, resulting in a succession of firsts. hooded
and Siberian crane
s produced young for the first time in captivity, and young Brolga
s and black-necked crane
s hatched for the first time in North America. The Foundation was also the first to hatch an endangered species from an egg fertilized by cryogenically preserved semen.
Over the past nearly 40 years, ICF has gathered unique collaborations and led effective community-based conservation programs, important research projects and innovative captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. These efforts have inspired unusual international cooperation – bringing together both North and South Koreans, for example – while helping improve livelihoods for people around the world and leading to the protection of millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands on the five continents where cranes live.
ICF is involved with both species of crane native to North America, the sandhill crane
and the whooping crane
. ICF is a founding partner of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, dedicated to the breeding and release of the endangered whooping cranes into a new migratory flock in the eastern United States. This flock summers at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin, and winters at the St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge
, Florida
. On June 22, 2006, two wild whooping crane chicks hatched in the Necedah NWR, the first to naturally hatch in the midwestern United States in over 100 years.
ICF maintains a world headquarters that over 25,000 people visit annually (ICF is open to the public April 15 - October 31). This site hosts a captive flock of approximately 100 cranes, including the only complete collection of all 15 species ever assembled. The campus offers live crane exhibits, an interactive education center, guided and self-guided tours, a research library, visitor center, and over four miles of hiking trails set among 100 acres of restored tall grass prairie, oak savanna, and wetlands. The ICF also offers numerous volunteering and seasonal internship opportunities in aviculture, education, and field ecology.
. The dream was to save the world’s cranes and that idea has been the driving force behind ICF ever since.
ICF’s first home was a horse farm near Baraboo, Wisconsin, leased to them for $1 a year. They set to work and converted the barns into crane pens and work areas. Then Sauey and Archibald contacted zoos all over the world, asking to borrow cranes for the foundation’s breeding program. Cranes and crane eggs arrived from Japan, Europe, the former USSR and North America. The crane population at Baraboo began to grow and chicks began hatching.
Volunteers, townspeople and graduate students came to help. When Archibald and Sauey were not working in Baraboo, they were traveling to the places where cranes lived, where they began to establish friendships and research connections. Sauey traveled to India while Archibald visited Korea, Japan and Australia. Within a few short years, the outlines of an international network for crane conservation began to take shape. Under the catalytic influence of ICF, South Korean, Indian, Chinese and Japanese governments took steps to improve existing crane sanctuaries and create new ones. At Baraboo, ICF continued its studies of crane behavior, breeding and nutrition. What started as a dream was becoming a reality.
ICF's early history is excerpted with permission
Wisconsin°N date=July 2009°W
Crane (bird)
Cranes are a family, Gruidae, of large, long-legged and long-necked birds in the order Gruiformes. There are fifteen species of crane in four genera. Unlike the similar-looking but unrelated herons, cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back...
. Founded in 1973, ICF moved to its current 225 acres (91 ha) headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Baraboo is the largest city in, and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA. It is situated on the Baraboo River. Its 2010 population was 12,048 according to the US Census Bureau...
, in 1984.
From the beginning, ICF was pledged to a mix of five essential activities: research, education, habitat protection, captive breeding and reintroduction. ICF tackled the extensive task of captive breeding of cranes, of which little experience or knowledge had previously existed, resulting in a succession of firsts. hooded
Hooded Crane
The Hooded Crane, Grus monacha is a small, dark crane. It has a grey body. The top of the neck and head is white, except for a patch of bare red skin above the eye...
and Siberian crane
Siberian Crane
The Siberian Crane also known as the Siberian White Crane or the Snow Crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes...
s produced young for the first time in captivity, and young Brolga
Brolga
The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...
s and black-necked crane
Black-necked Crane
The Black-necked Crane is a medium-sized crane that is found on the Tibetan Plateau of Asia. It is 139 cm long with a 235 cm wingspan, and it weighs 5.5 kg . It is whitish-gray, with a black head, red crown patch, black upper neck and legs, and white patch to the rear of the eye...
s hatched for the first time in North America. The Foundation was also the first to hatch an endangered species from an egg fertilized by cryogenically preserved semen.
Over the past nearly 40 years, ICF has gathered unique collaborations and led effective community-based conservation programs, important research projects and innovative captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. These efforts have inspired unusual international cooperation – bringing together both North and South Koreans, for example – while helping improve livelihoods for people around the world and leading to the protection of millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands on the five continents where cranes live.
ICF is involved with both species of crane native to North America, the sandhill crane
Sandhill Crane
The Sandhill Crane is a large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird references habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills in the American Midwest...
and the whooping crane
Whooping Crane
The whooping crane , the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild...
. ICF is a founding partner of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, dedicated to the breeding and release of the endangered whooping cranes into a new migratory flock in the eastern United States. This flock summers at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge
Necedah National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in northern Juneau County, Wisconsin near the village of Necedah. It was established in 1939 and is famous as the northern nesting site for reintroduction of an eastern United States population of the endangered Whooping Crane...
and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin, and winters at the St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge
The 30,843 acre Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located on the west coast of Florida, about seventy miles north of St. Petersburg...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. On June 22, 2006, two wild whooping crane chicks hatched in the Necedah NWR, the first to naturally hatch in the midwestern United States in over 100 years.
ICF maintains a world headquarters that over 25,000 people visit annually (ICF is open to the public April 15 - October 31). This site hosts a captive flock of approximately 100 cranes, including the only complete collection of all 15 species ever assembled. The campus offers live crane exhibits, an interactive education center, guided and self-guided tours, a research library, visitor center, and over four miles of hiking trails set among 100 acres of restored tall grass prairie, oak savanna, and wetlands. The ICF also offers numerous volunteering and seasonal internship opportunities in aviculture, education, and field ecology.
History
ICF began in 1973 as a dream shared by two enthusiastic young men, Ron Sauey and George Archibald, who met as graduate students in ornithology at Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. The dream was to save the world’s cranes and that idea has been the driving force behind ICF ever since.
ICF’s first home was a horse farm near Baraboo, Wisconsin, leased to them for $1 a year. They set to work and converted the barns into crane pens and work areas. Then Sauey and Archibald contacted zoos all over the world, asking to borrow cranes for the foundation’s breeding program. Cranes and crane eggs arrived from Japan, Europe, the former USSR and North America. The crane population at Baraboo began to grow and chicks began hatching.
Volunteers, townspeople and graduate students came to help. When Archibald and Sauey were not working in Baraboo, they were traveling to the places where cranes lived, where they began to establish friendships and research connections. Sauey traveled to India while Archibald visited Korea, Japan and Australia. Within a few short years, the outlines of an international network for crane conservation began to take shape. Under the catalytic influence of ICF, South Korean, Indian, Chinese and Japanese governments took steps to improve existing crane sanctuaries and create new ones. At Baraboo, ICF continued its studies of crane behavior, breeding and nutrition. What started as a dream was becoming a reality.
ICF's early history is excerpted with permission
External links
Wisconsin°N date=July 2009°W