What's New

Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25, 2010

ICF’s 37^th Anniversary festivities will kick off on September 24th with a theatrical performance benefiting ICF and the historic Al. Ringling Theatre in downtown Baraboo. Saturday’s festivities will be at our world headquarters and conclude in the evening with the Annual Member Banquet at Ho-Chunk Casino Hotel and Convention Center.

ICF’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce its selection of our new President and CEO, hydrologist and wetland ecologist, Dr. Richard Beilfuss.

“From its beginning, ICF has exemplified leadership and excellence in the study and conservation of cranes,” notes Joseph Branch, Chairman of ICF’s Board of Directors. “Rich brings over twenty year’s professional experience with cranes, but his major contribution has been to the emerging field of environmental flows. Rich’s work blends science and policy, and considerable people skills, to ensure that our water resources – rivers, lakes and wetlands – continue to nurture cranes, other wildlife and humanity.”

ICF uses the remarkable charisma of cranes in bringing diverse people and new allies together to solve problems vital for us all. The long-term future of cranes depends in large part on the decisions that people make for water and wetlands as human demand soars and variable climates threaten the security of water supplies. ICF has been working with land owners to promote healthy wildlife and wetlands on farmlands in Wisconsin as well as far eastern Russia and the valleys of Uganda. Crane projects now alleviate poverty through the sustainable use of water and wetlands in the Mekong Basin of Southeast Asia and Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa among other places.

“Cranes will not survive unless we tackle the big issues,” explains Rich Beilfuss. “Yet the same measures that safeguard landscapes nurturing cranes are effective at addressing human needs. I learned this first in Vietnam, where we searched for creative solutions to save the vanishing wetlands of the Mekong Delta for threatened Sarus Cranes and the impoverished people there. Later, our work to save vulnerable Wattled Cranes and other wildlife on the enormous floodplains of southern Africa led to a unique partnership with the Zambezi River authorities and dam operators for sustainable water management that will greatly benefit local fishing and farming communities.”

Beilfuss recently returned to ICF after serving four years as Director of Scientific Services for the Gorongosa Restoration Project in Mozambique, where he lived with his wife Katie and their two children. From 1992-2005, he served as ICF’s Director of Africa Programs, cultivating and supervising conservation efforts in more than a dozen African nations. Beilfuss also has contributed his expertise to ICF’s long-term efforts in Vietnam, China, Nepal, and elsewhere.

Beilfuss’ academic background and training reflect the breadth of thinking ICF seeks in its leadership—he has a Ph.D. in Land Resources, two Master’s degrees (Civil and Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Management), and a Bachelor’s degree in International Economics. Beilfuss is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he advises graduate students and teaches a course on environmental flows, and was appointed by the Governor of Wisconsin to the Examining Board of Professional Geologists, Hydrologists, and Soil Scientists.

From the end of March through June, 2010 an ad hoc Transition Committee of ICF’s Board of Directors conducted a thorough search for a new President and CEO. The Committee sought someone who could guide ICF’s strategic development with vision, discipline, and passion.

“Rich exemplifies ICF’s commitment to serving this remarkable, and highly endangered, family of birds while improving the lives of the people whose support and energies are essential to creating a long term future for the cranes,” exclaimed Branch. “We are delighted with his acceptance of the Presidency, and look forward to Rich's leadership of this world class conservation organization.”

By Christina Skasa, ICF Volunteer and Jeb Barzen, Director of Field Ecology

This year the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyway Councils completed a new management plan for the Eastern Population of Greater Sandhill Cranes, the cranes breeding in the Midwest and eastern Canada. This plan has many important crane conservation aspects. Of note, the plan includes an objective to develop hunting seasons for this population, an action likely to attract the attention of many. The flyway councils consist of representatives from government agencies within the general migratory pathways of birds and coordinate the management of hunted, migratory bird species. Therefore, release of this plan is a significant step. The plan makes it possible for individual states to propose a hunting season.

Photo by Bob VanHoff

For many crane conservationists, the Sandhill Crane is a source of pride and a symbol of endurance. Subspecies like the Greater Sandhill Crane suffered severe population declines due to over-hunting prior to the mid-20th century. Since then, most migratory Sandhill Crane populations have recovered dramatically, prompting some states to legalize crane hunting again. Current hunting seasons have been conducted in North America without apparent declines in the populations involved. Now that states or provinces of eastern North America may propose crane hunting seasons, people will want to know whether crane hunting is legal in Wisconsin or in other states, why individuals would want to hunt cranes, and whether ICF maintains a formal position regarding crane hunting.

The 11 Direct Autumn Release (DAR) Whooping Crane chicks arrived yesterday at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge! The chicks arrived from ICF, where the birds were hatched and raised by costumed biologists. The chicks will spend the remainder of the summer at the refuge, under the watchful eye and supervision of costumed staff from ICF and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This fall, the juvenile birds will be released in the company of older cranes after fledging, or developing their flight feathers.  The young cranes learn the migration route by following these older birds.  Stay tuned for further updates on the DAR chicks…

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A Message from George Archibald, Co-founder of ICF:

July 2010

Dear Friends,

To call the Gulf Coast environmental disaster profoundly sobering is a dramatic understatement. In a region still recovering from hurricanes and years of wetland degradation, the full impacts of this new tragedy will take years to unfold. While we witness the immediate tolls on human communities, birds and marine life that depend on these ecosystems, I am touched and overwhelmed by the outpouring of questions and concerns for our fragile cranes.

As you may know, the world’s last natural flock of Whooping Cranes, scores of Sandhill Cranes and the experimental population of Whooping Cranes that the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and partners are working to reintroduce all depend on wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico during winter. Oil has been found at crane areas in Florida, and we remain vigilant for oil at their winter homes in Texas. Due to the feeding and roosting habits of cranes, we are extremely concerned for the long-term ramifications of the spill and ripple effects to the marine food chain upon which the cranes rely, but we do not expect to find oiled birds this winter.

In 10 years, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) has accomplished an impressive conservation result - the establishment of a healthy, migratory population of 103 Whooping Cranes, with high survival rates for both juveniles and adults. Released cranes in this population are now pairing, establishing breeding territories, nesting, laying fertile eggs, and initiating incubation. The cranes are not yet incubating their eggs to full-term. See full article.

News Release
ICF Receives National Endangered Species Recovery Champion Award

March 26, 2010                                           

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan Gould today announced the 18 recipients of the 2009 Recovery Champion award. Among them are the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Recovery Champion award recognizes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees and their partners for contributions to the recovery of threatened and endangered species in the United States. Among those recognized from the Midwest for their work in 2009 were Dr. George Archibald and staff of the International Crane Foundation.

Mar 10, 2010
The Aransas Project (TAP) files federal lawsuit against TCEQ officials for illegally harming endangered Whooping Cranes. READ Press Release on TAP's website 

Information on ICF's website about Whooping Cranes and freshwater inflows in Texas

Dr. Tran Triet, ICF’s Southeast Asia Program Coordinator traveled to Washington D.C. recently to speak to delegates at a Development Marketplace meeting sponsored by the World Bank.  ICF’s project at Phu My, Vietnam was chosen as the "Best of the Best" from the Marketplace Development grants that World Bank has supported over the last decade. Triet’s presentation exemplifies excellence in linking poverty alleviation with conservation in a sustainable manner.

Photo by Tran Triet

Dec. 2009

Between October 15 and November 20, 2009 my around-the-world adventure took me to assignments in South Korea, Japan, Thailand and India. Read more about it on my TRAVEL BLOG.

Dr. George Archibald photographing Demoiselle Cranes at Keechan India. Photo by Gopi Sundar