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Among the people captivated by the beauty and mystique of cranes were two Cornell University graduate students - George Archibald and Ron Sauey - who were investigating crane behavior and ecology. Realizing that cranes were under intense pressure from the world's rapidly expanding human population; they decided to establish an organization dedicated to the study and preservation of cranes. In 1973, they founded the International Crane Foundation on the horse farm owned by Sauey's parents just north of Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Timeline
1971: Ron Sauey and George Archibald meet at Cornell University
1972: George captures 12 Brolgas and Eastern Sarus cranes in Australia for captive breeding in Baraboo
1973: Establishment of the International Crane Foundation on the Sauey horse farm in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Horse stalls were converted to crane pens, enclosures built, and an incubator installed
1974: First publication of The Brolga Bugle, ICF's quarterly newsletter
1975: ICF hatches the first red-crowned crane in the Western Hemisphere
1976: The Annual Midwest Sandhill Crane Count begins as a cooperative venture between ICF and Middleton High School students George Archibald visits Russia for the first time ICF breeds hooded cranes in captivity, the first time in the world
1977: ICF receives hatching Siberian crane eggs from Russia
1978: ICF hosts Soviet visitors - Vladimir Flint and Alexandar Blistanov
1979: ICF hatches Brolgas for the first time in North America George Archibald travels to China for the first time and develops a collaborative crane conservation program between ICF and the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Zoology.
1980: Over 1000 people visit ICF in May
1981: ICF hatches the first Siberian crane ever bred in captivity
1982: Tex, the female whooping crane imprinted on humans, is courted by George. Through artificial insemination a chick is hatched and called Gee Whiz
1983: ICF outgrows the facilities of the Sauey farm, and moves a few miles north to our current 225-acre site on Shady Lane Road. The Cudahy Visitor Center and Johnson Exhibit Pod is dedicated
1984: ICF pioneers "isolation rearing" efforts to release captive cranes into the wild
1985: ICF receives black-necked cranes, making it the only place in the entire world to have all fifteen crane species
1986: Construction begins on "Crane City", a complex of crane enclosures and buildings
1987: The death of co-founder Ron Sauey is mourned worldwide ICF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry in China, organizes the International Crane Workshop in Qiqihar, the first major international conservation meeting in China
1988: ICF begins the first major wetland restoration outside of Wisconsin at what is now Tram Chim National Park in Vietnam
1989: ICF receives 22 whooping cranes from Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland
1990: ICF hatches its first black-necked crane chick.
1991: Ron Sauey Memorial Library for Bird Conservation is completed - a global clearing house for crane research and a meeting-training center for international colleagues
1992: ICF conducts first wetland and water bird aerial surveys in Cambodia
1993: ICF begins contributing whooping cranes towards the establishment of a non-migratory flock in Florida ICF supports the founding of Russia's first privately managed Nature Reserve, Muraviovka Park ICF hatches its first wattled crane successfully. All 15 species have now been raised at ICF
1994: Richard Beilfuss begins a major Africa project on the delta of the Zambezi River in Mozambique ICF begins a poverty alleviation project at Cao Hai Nature Reserve that becomes a foremost example of community involvement in conservation in China
1995: Amoco Whooping Crane Exhibit opens, showing whooping cranes in a recreated wetland/prairie setting, much as may have been seen during the early 1800s in Wisconsin
1996: International Children's Art Exchange begins
1997: Li Fengshan is hired as China Program Coordinator, the first foreign national to join the ICF staff
1998: First group of ICF volunteers assists Cuban colleagues with public education
1999: ICF joins the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership in efforts to reintroduce a migratory flock of whooping cranes into their historic range in the Eastern United States
2000: George Archibald steps down as ICF President and CEO of ICF and Jim Harris, former Vice President of Programs, becomes ICF's new president
2001: The first flock of whooping cranes is led to Florida behind an ultralight aircraft operated by pilots from Operation Migration
2002: From the Florida non-migratory flock of reintroduced whooping cranes, one pair hatches and raises a chick dubbed Lucky.
2003: ICF turns 30! ICF receives a Global Environment Fund (GEF) grant for the conservation of major wetlands used by Siberian cranes
2004: Rich Beilfuss, Africa Program Director, documents the largest concentration of wattled cranes ever recorded in Ethiopia
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