In 1941, there were estimated to be only 21 Whooping Cranes left in the world. Seventy years later, through the efforts of many, their numbers have risen. Today, the wild population is still less than 500.  This crane is protected under the Endangered Species Act and specific criteria need to be met for them to be downlisted to threatened status including the creation of 2 separate and viable populations outside of the naturally occurring western flock.

Since 2001, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) and its founding partners have spent an estimated 20 million dollars and considerable time and effort to establish a flock of Whooping Cranes in the Eastern United States.  This flock currently numbers just over 100 with the vast majority migrating to and from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin.

Each spring, 2 species of black flies hatch from the nearby rivers and seek out the nesting cranes to feed on their blood.  The cranes incubating their eggs are attacked by the black flies and end up abandoning their nests out of self-preservation.

For little cost and no environmental impact, using Bti (a naturally occurring, biological larvicide) to significantly reduce the number of black flies in the nesting area seems like an obvious solution.  This is NOT being done!!  Please do not allow 10 years of intensive effort to establish a population of migratory Whooping Cranes at Necedah to result in failure.  There are many rumors within the “Craniac” community about inner politics hampering the use of Bti as a management tool.  I feel it is important for us, the public, to send a message to the people in charge that we need to help this population of Whooping Cranes near Necedah be successful and raise their own young.  We put these cranes here!  Bti is an obvious, simple and economical solution to the problem.  We need to be responsible and help them!!

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The Necedah National Wildlife Refuge was chosen as the release site for an experimental population of migratory Whooping Cranes.  The majority of these cranes have been raised and conditioned by project partner Operation Migration, a non-profit organization that relies heavily on public funding.  Operation Migration staff raise these cranes using costumes designed to disguise the human form and condition the cranes to follow their ultralight aircraft, eventually leading the cranes to Florida each fall.  The cranes overwinter in Florida and migrate on their own back to Wisconsin in the spring.  In 2005, the International Crane Foundation, a non-profit organization, began releasing costume reared cranes with adult Whooping Cranes on the Necedah Refuge.  This method is called Direct Autumn Release (DAR) and the young cranes learn a migration route by following the adults south.  A third release method called Parent Rearing (PR) was initiated in 2013.  Captive adult Whooping Cranes hatch and raise their young.  When they are old enough (about 8 weeks), they are taken from their parents and transferred to the Necedah Refuge and released near paired adults in the hope that a bond will form. 

This reintroduction project is quite visible and has been described as "the wildlife equivalent of putting a man on the moon".  It has been successful in teaching the cranes a migration route, maintaining their wildness and fear of humans resulting in a survival rate on par with the natural flock.  Their reproductive behavior is also quite good – they form pair bonds, build nests and produce fertile eggs.  This is where the success ends however, as the vast majority of nest attempts result in nest abandonment.

Between 2005 and 2010, there were zero first-time nests (a pair’s first nest early in the nesting season) which resulted in a full-term incubation effort (sat on nest for at least 30 days).  Enormous numbers of black flies were observed on the nesting cranes and around the nest sites.  A black fly suppression experiment was initiated in 2011, using the biological control agent, Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis (Bti) to target the bird-feeding black flies Simulium annulus and Simulium johannseni.  In 2011, about 30% of the first-time nest efforts resulted in full-term nesting.  Water levels were high that year from an unusually heavy spring runoff making Bti application difficult and less effective.  In 2012, a more comprehensive black fly suppression program resulted in about 40% of the first-time nests being successfully incubated for a full 30 days.  In 2013, black fly suppression was NOT conducted and nesting success dropped to near pre-suppression levels.

WCEP is in the process of discussing the strategies for the upcoming nesting season. Recent news articles quote WCEP members talking about the possibility of collecting all the eggs from the first nests at Necedah.  They say that the cranes should re-nest after the black flies have disappeared from the landscape and that ultimately the cranes may change their nesting phenology (seasonal timing).  Looking at past nesting data from this population, only about 20% of the cranes attempt a re-nest effort.  It is doubtful that this strategy will allow this population to be successful and self-sustain with such low levels of re-nesting.  It is also doubtful that the cranes can learn to delay their nesting by several weeks to miss the black fly emergence.  It has been observed in captive breeding centers that reproductive activity is triggered by increases in light and temperature.  The higher latitude of the Wood Buffalo flock causes them to nest later because the days are shorter in the early spring due to a lower sun angle.

An intense nest monitoring program was initiated in 2010.  Cameras were placed near active nests and observers watched from the ground as well as in planes from the air.  CO2 traps, decoys and dummy eggs with glue traps were placed around the refuge in strategic locations to catch black flies.  In 2011, the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team (IWCRT) decided to halt the release of cranes on the refuge as it was not fully understood why the abandonments were occurring.  Operation Migration and the International Crane Foundation began releases at two separate locations (White River Marsh and Horicon Refuge) in eastern Wisconsin.

Several years of synchronous abandonments coinciding with swarming black flies at nests have solidified the understanding of nest abandonment. There are many other potential underlying issues that could have a negative impact on reproduction such as limited food resources, effects of captive/costume rearing, inexperience and predators.  It will be several more years before a sufficient number of pairs reach breeding age at White River Marsh and the Horicon Refuge.  Precious time and resources will be wasted if it is eventually learned these costume reared cranes are unable to successfully reproduce at the new release locations.  An established population of Whooping Cranes already exists at Necedah.  If we reduce the black flies to allow them to sit in comfort on their nests, we can then learn if they are capable of being a self-sustaining population.

There is really no down-side to using Bti.  The annual costs of a black fly suppression program will be quite nominal compared to the ongoing efforts within WCEP.  Multitudes of scientific studies have demonstrated that Bti based products do not have an adverse effect on non-target organisms, including work done in the Yellow River as part of the WCEP research program.  Black fly suppression is conducted in some of the most highly regulated states including California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and on a much larger scale then what would be used near Necedah.  Only 2 species of black flies would be targeted in the Necedah area. They emerge in the early spring and have a relatively short adult life-span of about 2 weeks.  Because of the very specific time and locations of treatment, other black fly species and mosquitoes are not affected and the environment would remain rich in blood sucking flies for any predatory animals to feed upon.  Wildlife management comes in many forms such as pesticides, herbicides, fire, water control, hunting and clear cutting.  On the scale of typical wildlife management, Bti use near Necedah is quite minimal in amount, aerial coverage and duration.

There is a large demand for eggs at the captive rearing centers for the Louisiana and WCEP projects.  Taking all the eggs from the first nests at Necedah will help supplement these numbers and may make egg collection an attractive idea to some people, but it may overwhelm the captive centers ability to raise them all.  A crane raised in the wild by its parents is more important to the overall success of this project and the recovery of the species.  Most Whooping Cranes lay 2 eggs with the 2nd chick rarely surviving.  Perhaps WCEP could visit nests at an appropriate time, making sure that each nest has 1 fertile egg and taking the others to bolster the numbers in the captive release projects – much like the egg collection at Wood Buffalo that established a captive population of Whooping Cranes.

The following links from the WCEP website provide more information about the nesting history at Necedah and the blackfly suppression experiment.

Technical description of Bacillus thuringiensis

Solving the current challenge: Working for successful Whooping Crane Nesting in Wisconsin

2013 Necedah Nesting Summary

Canada's Fact Sheet on the Safety of Bti:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_fact-fiche/bti/index-eng.php