Ultralight (UL) guided migration of whooping cranes has been a key part of the most successful attempt to date of reintroducing an additional wild population of endangered whooping cranes.
The USFWS has decided to discontinue the UL portion of the reintroduction, spearheaded by the privately funded organization, Operation Migration, because chick survival has not been up to expectations, in spite of a record 24 chicks hatched in 2015.
While the new population has not yet become self sustaining due to high chick mortality, no other tested reintroduction method has been as successful as the UL method. We ask that the USFWS be directed to continue ultralight guided reintroduction of at least 10 chicks annually until an alternative more successful method is developed and proven.