Speaker Series: Update on Whooping Crane Reintroduction

Program reservations open online on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 9:00 am CST.

Cost: Free, registration required

About:
Can we imagine a world where the Whooping Crane is only threatened, not endangered? Since the first cohort of Whooping Cranes was introduced to the Wisconsin landscape in 2001, over 300 birds have been released by various rearing and release methods. Fast forward to 2026: just how are we doing toward the goal of downlisting?

There have been issues with nesting and chick production, complicated by moves to new release areas and amended release methods. Join Anne Lacy, the Director of Eastern Flyway Programs- North America, for a look at the trials and tribulations of bringing a charismatic species back from the brink in this one-hour presentation.

Learn about the Speaker:
Anne Lacy is the Director of Eastern Flyway Programs- North America at the International Crane Foundation, ICF. Anne is working on an ongoing, long-term study of Sandhill Cranes. In 2009, she began working with the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, of which ICF is an active member, to study the ecology of the newly reintroduced Whooping Cranes in Wisconsin.

You may also like the following events from Rowe Sanctuary:

• Next Friday, 6th March, 10:00 am, MONA Art Workshop: Wings of Elegance- A Study in Line and Color with Lois Smith in Gibbon
• Next Friday, 6th March, 02:30 pm, Speaker Series: Blueprint for Conservation on the Platte River in Gibbon
• Next Saturday, 7th March, 09:00 am, Story Time at Rowe Sanctuary with Gibbon Public Library in Gibbon