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1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />1.1 BACIGROUND <br />The whoopi ng crane (Gnus americans) was 1 isted as endangered by the U. S. Fi sh <br />and Wil dl if Service in the March 11, 1967 issue of the; estimated ed ral Rd 9h <br />itert(32 FR <br />4001) . Never common in recent times, Allen (1952, p. 83 <br />population of whooping cranes in the mid- 1800's to be about 1,300 to 1,400 <br />bi rds. The hi stori c breedi ng range duri ng the peri od of North Ameri can <br />settl ement apparently extended f ran central Ill inoi s northwestward through the <br />northern half of Iowa, western half of Minnesota, northeastern corner of North <br />Dakota, southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, to the general vicinity of <br />Edmonton, Al berta. Wintering grounds were located primarily along the Gulf of <br />Mexico f ran northeastern Mexico northward along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. <br />Although whooping cranes are typically migratory, a 1 ocal , sede1t) ry breeding <br />population occurred in southwestern Louisiana (FWS 1980, pp. <br />Historically, whooping cranes traveled along at o eastwfourl diffeden betweenon <br />routes (Allen 1952, p. 103) . The two primary <br />Louisiana and nesting grounds in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, <br />North Dakota and <br />Manitoba; and 2) fran Texas and the Rio Grande Delta region of Mexico to <br />nesting grounds in North Dakota, the Canadian Provinces and Northwest Terri-. <br />tori es. A third route f ran Illinois southeastward across the Appalachians to <br />the Atlantic seaboard appears to have been of minor importance, whereas a <br />fourth route through western Texas to wintering grounds on the plateaus of <br />Mexi co's central intermountain region was bel ieved to have been used by <br />whooping cranes migrating in consort with sandhil l cranes. <br />In 1937, when the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was established on the Texas <br />coast to preserve winter habitat for this and other waterfowl species, only <br />about 18 or 19 whooping cranes existed in the migratory population (Allen 1952, <br />p. 72) . The breeding grounds of this small remaining population were subse- <br />quently located in Wood Buffalo National Park, <br />Alberta and Northwest Terri - <br />tori es, Canada in 1954. Each year this flock migrates to its northern breeding <br />spend the winter at Aransas NW R. <br />grounds in the spring returning in the fall to <br />The migratory route of these birds takes them through central Nebraska. In <br />1941, the Wood Buffal o-Aransas popul ati on reached a low poi nt of 15 bi rds <br />consisting of 13 adults and 2 young -of- the -year. Through a g tru9gl inc <br />bring the species back f ran the edge of extinction, this population <br />to 85 birds a s of January 1985. These birds, together with approximately 33 in <br />an introduced population (the Grays Lake flock) that migrates between breeding <br />grounds in Idaho and wintering grounds in New Mexico, and 35 in the captive <br />breeding flock at the Patuxent l about 15search i nteranesMaryland, account <br />for a present world population of <br />Minimum requirements specified by the Whooping Crane Recovery Plan (FW S 1980, <br />p. 45) to change the species' status f ran endangered to threatened call for: <br />1) increasing the Wood Buffalo-Aransas to-woraddi ti oral, least <br />self-sustaining <br />ni nesting gpairs; <br />and 2) establishing at <br />populations consisting of at least 20 nesting pairs each. <br />- 1 -1 <br />