Each week this winter, ICF’s aviculturists provided our captive crane flock with regular sources of environmental enrichment. Zoos around the world provide enrichment for their animals to help maintain both their physical and psychological health.
When I think about the conservation challenges we face in the coming century, my thoughts invariably turn to food, water, and energy. How will we feed 9 billion people and still maintain healthy landscapes for cranes and other life we hold dear? How will we water thirsty cities and farmlands without sacrificing life-supporting rivers and wetlands? Can we meet the global demand for electricity without devastating our land, water, air…and climate?
The Land Trust for Tennessee and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) successfully partnered to purchase 68 acres of critical wildlife habitat located along Blythe Ferry Road near the confluence of the Hiwassee and Tennessee Rivers. This essential acreage is now part of the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in Meigs County thanks to the tremendous support of individuals, foundations and the community.
At the North American Crane Workshop in 2008, ICF had the pleasure to host our long-term colleague, Inga Bysykatova from the Institute of Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone (IBPC) in Yakutia, Russia. Inga had been studying Sandhill Cranes that migrated from Texas, across Alaska, to breed in the tundra in far eastern Russia.
A perfect balance of entertainment and education, Raising Kid Colt – A Story of a Young Sandhill Crane, invites you into the exciting world of a wild Sandhill Crane couple and their parenthood adventures. The incredible footage and documentation of these cranes was captured by amateur videographer, Nina Faust, who happily shares her land in Homer, Alaska with a Sandhill Crane family.