The whooping crane is a federally endangered species that relies on habitat in the Dakotas to help meet the energy needs of migration, reproduction, and population growth. Given its endangered status, many partners want to understand whooping crane habitat use for conservation planning and to avoid conflicts with development.
Working with partners from USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center and the Nebraska Ecological Services Office, HAPET used whooping crane observations, landscape data, and a model-based approach to identify whooping crane habitat in North and South Dakota. We used the resultant habitat model (Figure 1) to provide guidance for conservation, assess the effectiveness of existing conservation efforts at conserving whooping crane habitat, and assess threats to whooping crane habitat.
The model output, which identifies areas with many wetlands of different water regimes and some crop fields close to the centerline of the migration as being most likely to be used by whoopers, is being used by conservationists, energy developers, and consulting firms to evaluate potential impacts of development on whooping crane habitat. The model also demonstrates that waterfowl conservation efforts have protected much top-tier whooping crane habitat, primarily in areas east of the Missouri River (Figure 2). Land protection patterns showed an opposite trend in the west-river portion of the region, which has no history of waterfowl conservation.
HAPET Publication:
Niemuth, N. D., A. J. Ryba, A. T. Pearse, S. M. Kvas, D. A. Brandt, B. Wangler, J. E. Austin, and M. J. Carlisle. 2018. Opportunistically collected data reveal habitat selection by migrating whooping cranes in the U.S. Northern Plains. The Condor 120:343-356.
