A sandhill crane spreads its wings in a field in Kearney County, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND — The number of Sandhill Cranes in the Central Platte River Valley has reached an all-time high.
This morning, Tuesday, March 18, the Crane Trust Science Team took to the skies to survey the 80-mile stretch of river, and the results are nothing short of spectacular.
There were 736,000 cranes reported in the area during the fifth week of the migration.
“The Crane Trust was formed in 1978 out of a court-approved settlement of a controversy over the construction of Grayrocks Dam on a tributary of the Platte River in Wyoming. The state of Nebraska and the National Wildlife Federation objected to the project, claiming it would jeopardize irrigation and wildlife downstream in Nebraska,” according to their website.
“The settlement satisfied requirements of the Endangered Species Act and allowed the Missouri Basin Power Project, owners of Grayrocks, to complete construction. The Crane Trust was funded by a payment from the Missouri Basin Power Project. The Trust is administered by three trustees who are appointed by the three participants in the settlement,” according to the website.
“In 2012, the Crane Trust acquired the Nebraska Nature and Visitor Center to help fulfill its mission by providing a more active gateway and resource for community outreach and education. The Crane Trust continues our efforts, as we have done for nearly fifty years, to protect and maintain this vital habitat for the cranes that have been coming here for thousands of years,” according to the website.
