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Necedah NWR George Archibald |
The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership has established a goal of having 125 whooping cranes in the new flock, which will migrate between Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Established in 1939, Necedah NWR covers 43,656 acres in central Wisconsin and provides the cranes with a summer home. Necedah is also home to other endangered and threatened species such as bald eagles, the Karner blue butterfly, Blanding’s turtles, and timber wolves. Necedah’s wide range of habitat includes sedge meadows, upland hardwood timber, marshes and savanna, supporting populations of white-tailed deer, ringed bog hunter dragonflies, trumpeter swans and badgers.
Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, located about an hour’s drive north of St. Petersburg, Florida, encompasses more than 31,000 acres of saltwater bays, estuaries and brackish marshes at the mouth of the Chassahowitzka River. The refuge was established in 1941 primarily to preserve waterfowl habitat and now serves as winter nesting grounds for the new flock of whooping cranes, in addition to protecting several other endangered and threatened species, including the West Indian manatee, sea turtle and bald eagle. Over 250 species of birds, more than 50 species of reptiles and amphibians and at least 25 different species of mammals call Chassahowitzka home.
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