WSP05055

• File Number: 8460.500
• Description: Platte River Recovery Plan
• Basin: South Platte
• Date: 2/11/1994
• Author: USFWS
• Title: Whooping Crane Recovery Plan
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Treaty Act between the United States and Grellt Britain (Canada), which was ratified by
Congress on December 8, 1916. This Act assured legal protection for migratory bird
species in Canada and the United States and provided a basis for preventing the hunting of
species requiring complete protection,

The significance of the establishment of WBNP in the Northwest Territories in December
1922 (Raup 1933) was not realized until three decades later when the whooping crane
nesting grounds were discovered there (Allen 1956). WBNP is a vast boreal forest and
muskeg area (4,288,542 ha) set aside by the C~nadian government (Raup 1933) as a
preserve and management area for the wood billon WWm J2Wl!l athabascae). The portion of
the Park occupied by nesting whooping cranes is primarily located northwest of the
intersection of the boundaries of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories
(Kuyt 1978!l).

Aransas NWR was established in 1937 to protect the whooping crane and other wildlife of
coastal Texas (Stevenson and Griffith 1946, Howard 1954). The Refuge includes 22,148
ha of ,Blackjack Peninsula and adjacent properties, and provides essential wintering habitat
for whooping cranes. On Matagorda Island another 44,606 ha in State and Federal
ownership, is managed in conjunction with Aransas. For additional protection, 5,236 ha of
adjoining wetlands known as the Proclamation Boundary have been closed to hunting.

In the 1940's, many questions regarding the life history and ecology of the whooping crane
were unanswered, The Service and the National Audubon Society (NAS) attempted to
remedy this situation by setting up the Cooperative Whooping Crane Project. The goal of
this project was to achieve species survival and population growth through increased
protection and sound management, Robert P. Allen became the principal investigator; his
studies culminated in the monograph The Whooping Crane (Allen 1952) published by the
National Audubon Society in 1952.

This monograph established a foundation for subsequent research and management. The
interest of many private citizens and organizations; the dedicated efforts of Federal, State,
and Provincial personnel in the United States and Canada; the awakened concern of people
along the migration route; and newspaper accolflnts alerting hunters to avoid mistaken shots
were all important by-products of the heightenep awareness stimulated by Allen's study.

In April, 1985, Bert Tetreault, Director General 9f the Canadian Wildlife Service and Robert
A, Jantzen, Director of the U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) entitled Conservation of the Whooping Crane Relating to Coordinated
Management Activities (Lewis 1991). The MOU provides a more formal structure to the
cooperative working relationships that have characterized these two nations' joint efforts in
management and research of whooping cranes.' Under the new agreement, each Service
appointed an employee to be responsible for intl3r- and intra-nation coordination of whooping
crane management and research. The MOU di~cusses disposition of birds and eggs,
postmortem analysis, population restoration and objectives, new population sites,
international management, recovery plans, and consultation and coordination. The MOU
was renewed for another 5 years in April 1990,