Whooping Crane “stopover habitats” on Lake Sharpe, South Dakota

by

By Pam Bates, FOTWW

Friends of the Wild Whoopers (FOTWW) is continuing to work on its joint Whooping Crane “stopover habitat” with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The project involves the 7 state migration corridor within in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana. FOTWW has completed its evaluation of Lake Sharpe properties in South Dakota and our Wildlife Biologist Chester McConnell provided a summary of their findings and recommendations.

McConnell emphasized that FOTWW appreciated USACE personnel who accompanied us on our field evaluation. “They were well informed about the lake’s abundant habitats and management needs. So, together, we successfully identified many stopover habitats that needed only minor management” explained McConnell.”

Habitat threats continue

Today Whooping Cranes are facing continuing threats to their habitats. During their two 2,500 miles migration from their Canadian nesting habitats and their winter habitats on the Texas coast they must stop 15 to 30 times to rest and feed. Secure stopover habitats are needed throughout the migration corridor approximately every 25 miles. And more secure wintering habitats are needed along the Texas coast near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Currently about half of the population winters off the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where they are not as safe. Continuous development along the coast is taking a serious toll on habitat.

FOTWW believes that the wild Whooping Cranes in the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population are capable of taking care of themselves with two exceptions. They need (1) humans to protect their habitats and (2) humans to stop shooting them. We firmly believe that the USACE can do much to protect and manage many “stopover habitats” within the migration corridor wetland habitats while other areas could be enhanced with minor, low cost work.

Working partnership

The USACE and FOTWW operate under a Memorandum of Understanding that allows FOTWW to focus on Whooping Crane habitat assessment and management recommendations on lands under USACE jurisdiction. We first need to determine if any suitable areas could be managed, or appropriately developed, to provide stopover habitats for Whooping Cranes. The next step would be to work to encourage appropriate management.

McConnell explained that “we have learned that USACE lakes within the 7 state migration corridor are very valuable to migrating Whooping Cranes. And we believe they are likely to become even more important to Whooping Cranes in the near future because of their locations and quality of “stopover habitats”.  Lake Sharpe and others that are located in the Whooping Crane migration corridor can be especially valuable. As the crane population increases the migration corridor may also expand in width.

Lake Sharpe

Lake Sharpe is just one of the 35 USACE lakes that FOTWW has evaluated. We are aware that Whooping Cranes have visited Lake Sharpe and we expect that to continue and increase. United States Geological Survey personnel used location data acquired from 58 unique individuals fitted with platform transmitting terminals that collected global position system locations. Radio-tagged birds provided 2,158 stopover sites over 10 migrations and 5 years (2010–14) using individual Whooping Cranes. Whooping Cranes were also observed in the vicinity of Lake Sharpe property several times.

Figure 1. Deer and other wildlife species often use the same habitats as Whooping Cranes.

McConnell explained that during migration Whooping Cranes often stop over on private lands, wildlife areas, lakes and some military bases. However, many private lands are being more intensively managed and face various forms of development. And some wetlands are becoming dryer due to global warming. FOTWW contends that lands and waters on USACE, military bases and Indian Reservations within the migration corridor can provide much needed relief. Some of these lands can be developed and/or managed to provide more stopover habitats for endangered Whooping Cranes. Importantly, habitats for the cranes also benefit many other species of wildlife and fish. So Whooping Cranes are compatible with other wildlife species using the same habitats.

Costs

The most expensive part of establishing or improving habitat is land cost. If projects can be accomplished on government lands and Indian Reservations, the cost would be relatively minimal. Importantly any habitat projects deemed to be incompatible with the mission of the agencies involved would not be considered by FOTWW.

FOTWW has completed habitat evaluations on 32 military facilities, 8 Indian Reservations and 35 USACE lakes within the wild Whooping Crane migration corridor. Most of these properties currently have some suitable stopover habitats but there is much more potential explained McConnell.

A look at Lake Sharpe

The following photos are a sample of the various examples of the Whooping Crane “stopover habitats” that we observed on Lake Sharpe.

Lake Sharpe
Figure 2. Counselor Creek: This photo also on Counselor Creek was made after heavy rains and water levels were higher than normal. At normal levels the stream banks are much wider as indicated by the yellow arrow and would be useful “stopover habitats”. The vegetation on stream sides could be treated with herbicide to create wider open strips approximately 30 feet by 100 feet long. This would allow habitat openings wide enough the be useful to Whoopers during all but extreme high water levels.
Figure 3. Good Soldier Creek. Focus on the water along the edge of the land area. The light color area is shallow water. Such areas are good foraging sites for the Whoopers. These areas are also prime roosting areas for Whooping Cranes. They like shallow water about 2 inches to 10 inches in depth to roost in. The 5 feet tall Whooping Cranes can defend themselves against predators in shallow water.
Lake Sharpe
Figure 4. Medicine Creek. This photo includes some excellent “stopover habitat” for migrating Whooping Cranes. The area is a safe landing site. Note the openness which allows the cranes to see in every direction and detect predators In addition this surrounding area has an abundance of plant seeds and insects for a food source. The cranes like such areas to spend several days to rest and feed.
Figure 5. Medicine Creek. The area along the shore and 300 feet back is an excellent location for Whooping Cranes to land. Caution is needed however because of the fence (red marker) which could cause injure or kill Whooping Cranes that may crash into it during low flight. A management project should remove the fence or relocate it an additional 300 feet back from the water edge. Otherwise this location is excellent as a “stopover site” for the cranes.

***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****

Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

fall migration
friendsofthewildwhoopers.org
Share

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.