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Ted Turner Visits ICF

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Ted Turner Visits ICF
Originally published 2004-10-29

Ted Turner Visits the International Crane Foundation and the Aldo Leopold Foundation

Friday, October 29, at 9:30 a.m. Mr. Ted Turner, television network executive, entrepreneur, and environmentalist arrived by private jet in Madison to spend the day with staff from the International Crane Foundation (ICF), the Aldo Leopold Foundation (ALF), and the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Mr. Turner is an ardent conservationist. He has purchased and helped preserve wild lands, and supports various causes, including cranes conservation, through the Turner Foundation which he established in 1990. The Foundation is committed to preventing damage to the earth's natural systems.

One of Mr. Turner's close friends was a businessman and conservationist from Charleston, SC, the late Peter Manigault. Peter's son, Pierre Manigault, worked as an intern at ICF in 1986. Pierre kept in close touch with ICF and in 1996, joined the Board of Directors. Recently, Pierre's wife, Lee Manigault, replaced him on the board. Through the Manigault family, Dr. George Archibald, ICF Co-founder, met Mr. Turner in Charleston in March 2004.

Mr. Turner has a special interest in cranes. On his ranch in Wyoming, a pair of Sandhill Cranes nests on a wetland near his home. He recalls fondly the commotion early one morning when the first chick hatched. The Turner Foundation has supported ICF's efforts to help establish Muraviovka Park in eastern Siberia – the first private nature reserve in Russia since 1917. This reserve is an important nesting area for the endangered White-naped and Red-crowned Cranes, and has pioneered ways to involve local communities and agriculture with crane and wetland conservation in Russia.

During his visit, Mr. Turner met the world's 15 species of cranes at the ICF and had lunch in Aldo Leopold's historic shack which served as the inspiration for his influential volume, A Sand County Almanac. Mr. Turner and his local hosts then viewed several of the Whooping Cranes now living in the wild at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Since 2001, federal, state, and private organizations have joined together to bring Whooping Cranes back to the Midwest. Captive-reared birds follow ultra-light aircraft from Necedah to Florida, and in the spring migrate back to Wisconsin independently. There are now about 50 birds in the new population, including 15 juveniles from the Class of 2004.

Since 1974, ICF has been involved in conservation efforts for the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the three mile wide strip of land between the divided neighbors that provides a home during migration or winter for half of the world's White-naped Cranes and a quarter of the world's Red-crowned Cranes. Next summer, ICF is helping to organize a meeting between the two Koreas, with half of the meeting taking place on either side of the DMZ. ICF has invited Mr. Turner to be an honored guest at this meeting. We hope his presence and his valuable ideas will help the two Koreas work together to save critical habitats for the cranes. Mr. Turner is interested in the proposal.

The Baraboo area is noted for its unique geological history, impressive diversity of plant and animals communities, and scenic beauty. These distinctive attributes are complimented by the presence of leading environmental organizations. The work of ICF and ALF continues to focus worldwide attention on Baraboo's unique natural heritage and global conservation. For more information visit the International Crane Foundation at: http://www.savingcranes.org, or the Aldo Leopold Foundation at: http://www.aldoleopold.org.