and other coastal Texas wildlife. The refuge lies 

 between San Antonio Bay and Aransas Bay on 

 the Texas Gulf coast, and in 1937 was the winter- 

 ing ground for 60% of the whooping cranes 

 (WCRT 1977). 



The American Ornithologists' Union wrote a 

 report in 1944 calling for the National Audubon 

 Society and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to 

 determine the status of whooping cranes, and to 

 stop the trend toward extinction. The Wilson Soci- 

 ety made the same request in 1944 (Allen 1952). 



In 1945, the Cooperative Whooping Crane 

 Project, involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice and the National Audubon Society, was set 

 up to investigate means to protect and restore the 

 species. 



Robert Allen's 1952 monograph, The Whoop- 

 ing Crane, a product of 39 months of study, out- 

 lined early management needs. 



The nesting grounds were discovered in 1954 

 in Wood Buffalo National Park, which had been 

 created in 1922 as a preserve and management 

 area for bison. 



The Cooperative Whooping Crane Project was 

 replaced by the Whooping Crane Advisory Group, 

 appointed by the Director of the Bureau of Sport 

 Fisheries and Wildhfe in 1956 to provide advice to 

 the Bureau on the crane's problems. 



The Standing Committee of the International 

 Wild Waterfowl Association created the Whooping 

 Crane Conservation Association in 1961. This 

 association has both Canadian and United States 

 membership and is privately funded. The associa- 

 tion encourages artificial propagation to increase 

 numbers, and promotes public education to 

 protect the cranes on migration. The International 

 Crane Foundation is another private organization 

 whose goals are to conserve cranes worldwide 

 (WCRT 1977), and also contributes to the whoop- 

 ing crane project. 



Many efforts have been made to reverse the 

 trend towards extinction. In 1946, food habit 

 studies were initiated. Shordy afterwards, tech- 

 niques for keeping abreast of population numbers 

 were developed, e.g. monitoring flyways. Warning 

 signs were posted on the Intracoastal Waterway, 

 which bounds the Aransas Refuge. Oil drilling in 

 the area of the refuge was handled in a coopera- 

 tive spirit and cattle grazing was found not to 

 compete with cranes (Allen 1952). Public educa- 

 tion played a large role in reversing the downward 

 trends (Walkinshaw 1973). 



The role played by the Canadian Wildlife 

 Service of the Canadian Department of Environ- 

 ment is equal in importance to that of the U.S. 



Fish and Wildlife Service. This group has con- 

 ducted surveys since 1954 to record events on the 

 breeding grounds. Other important functions 

 include (WCRT 1977): 



1. Fire patrol and fire suppression 



2. Prohibition of public access into or low-fly- 

 ing aircraft over the area. 



3. Resistance to attempts by commercial inter- 

 ests to develop the breeding areas. 



4. Conduct periodic censuses. 



A migration monitoring program was estab- 

 lished by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 

 fall of 1975 to : 



1. Attempt to prevent exposure to disease out- 

 breaks and other unusual hazards. 



2. Alert key areas along flyways. 



3. Provide information to be used to determine 

 major stop-over areas. 



4. Provide information for determining critical 

 habitat. 



The National Audubon Society has a network 

 that is coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service program; and several States along the fly- 

 way assist in crane protection. 



A recovery team was approved in November 

 1975, and has produced a draft Recovery Plan 

 (WCRT 1977). The primary objective of their 

 plan is to remove the whooping crane from its 

 endangered status. The requirements necessary to 

 reach this objective are: 



1. Increase the Wood Buffalo— Aransas popula- 

 tion to at least 40 nesting pairs. 



2. Establish at least two additional, separate and 

 self-sustaining populations consisting of at 

 least 20 nesting pairs. 



Additional research is advised on food habits 

 and avEiilability in relation to climatic conditions, 

 spatial requirements, and territorial behavior in 

 an expanding population. Additional data are also 

 needed on the impact of increasing human activi- 

 ties in the habitat area. 



The Canadian Wildlife Service and U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service removed 50 eggs from Wood 

 Buffalo in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, and 1974 and 

 attempted to hatch them at Patuxent Research 

 Center, Maryland. As of 1975, 19 whoopers have 

 been raised in this effort. The goal of producing 

 second-generation captive birds for release has not 

 yet been achieved (Kuyt 1976a). 



In 1975, 14 eggs were taken from Wood Buf- 

 falo nests and transplanted to foster sandhill 

 crane parents at Grays Lake National Wildlife 



