Save Our Sandhill Cranes (SOS Cranes) is a non-profit organization dedicated to maintaining open space habitat and the conservation of the California Central Valley's Sandhill crane populations through education, outreach, and community activism. Of particular concern to SOS Cranes are the threats to the remaining suitable winter habitats in the Central Valley of California. Pending urban development and the shift from corn and rice production to vineyards is likely to dramatically diminish what little remains of the winter migratory habitat of the Lesser and Greater Sandhill Cranes in this region. The Greater Sandhill Crane, which is a state listed threatened species, exhibits a high degree of loyalty to its specific wintering grounds, and any disturbance there will result in them being uprooted. If we lose the present population, it is highly unlikely that Sandhill Cranes from another location and population will come and take their place. The Lesser Sandhill Cranes constitute two smaller subspecies of the Sandhill Crane and are subject to the same threats of habitat loss as the Greater Sandhill Cranes.
LIVE CRANE CAMERA at the Rowe Sanctuary
http://www.rowesanctuary.org/crane%20cam.html (If this link is not "live" please do a cut/paste)
Every spring Rowe Sanctuary operates a live camera right on the Platte River, giving everyone a chance to watch the largest concentration of cranes in the world! The section of the river where the camera is located can have 20,000 or more cranes present! Here’s the deal though – cranes only come to the river to roost overnight so they are not there during the day and you cannot see them in the dark. The very best times to watch is around sunset and sunrise – Central Time (2 hours ahead of us)! Try it about 4:00 or 4:30pm to see and hear cranes coming in – or really early in the morning if you want to watch them leave. The best period for viewing will be from March 15-April 10…and you will need to adjust to daylight savings time. However, even when you cannot see any cranes, I found it is very relaxing to just listen to the sounds while doing my email.
We should think about something similar in CA – it is a great education tool if you have it in a place where there is activity during the school day – such as Woodbridge Road where we could possibly get power from the farm just west of the preserve and set up the camera on their property. The camera itself is very simple – just a security camera that transmits in nearly real time to a server and is available to any viewer. The Rowe camera can be manipulated but that is not required.
These web cams are popular with other bird species – and perhaps we could set it up on a pair of nesting cranes up in Modoc to show people what they do during that period – of course that would require a nest being close to a home or building and we would have to set up the camera in a way that it never impacted the birds.
Crainiac Alert!
"Crane Song" is a stunning one hour high-definition documentary by NET Television. It will be broadcast by KVIE 2 (Comcast Ch7) at 8:00PM on Saturday, March 20th.
Every year some 80 percent of the world's Sandhill cranes make their way through a 75-mile stretch of Nebraska's central Platte River Valley, a critical stopover in their 5,000-mile spring migration.
"Crane Song," is a visual essay of the Sandhill crane's migration through Nebraska, weaving together striking images and majestic sounds of the birds' journey with the stories and insights of the individuals who observe these creatures, as well as landowners endeavoring to ensure a habitat that is welcoming to the cranes.
Each spring, between February and April, hundreds of thousands of Sandhill cranes soar into Nebraska on a journey that cranes have taken since the end of the last ice age more than 20,000 years ago. With the surrounding cornfields providing ample food, the Platte River Valley is an ideal habitat for the birds, allowing them to prepare for the final push to their breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra.
But their habitat is at risk. Much of the Platte is no longer the broad shallow river it once was. Decreased water flow has led to the overgrowth of vegetation on the river's sandbars, resulting in fewer spots for the cranes to spend the night safely away from predators.
Featuring spectacular, yet profound, cinematography of the cranes, "Crane Song" introduces some of the people captivated by the birds, from some of the thousands who visit the Platte River Valley each year to observe the birds, to Nebraskan Michael Forsberg, one of the world's premier crane photographers, as well as University of Nebraska-Lincoln paleontologist Mike Voorhies; Shelton, Neb., landowner Tony Hempleman, who has cleared vegetation from his property to improve the crane's habitat; and ornithologist and author Paul Johnsgard, who has studied the birds for more than 40 years.
"You get this, not a cacophony but a symphony really, of all these wonderful sounds and these birds coming in as if they were sort of synchronized to music landing in the water," Johnsgard says during the program.
To see a preview, which includes a cameo appearance by our own Paul Tebbel, go to YouTube at http://www.netnebraska.org/youtube/crane.html
MUSTANG AIRPORT HEARING RESULTS --
The meeting went on for hours. The proponent's consultants and attorneys made a slick presentation. Then a lot of people came forward and spoke against this bad idea. Then the Commission let the proponents rebut all the comments against the proposal, but did not let those who opposed speak again. So the proponents had both the first and last word. No surprise, but the Commission voted 4 to 0 to approve the permit request. If this is not appealed within ten days, it is final.
Below is our description of the issue based on what we knew before the hearing on February 22, 2010,
Here are the highlights. Mustang is a private airport with a single hanger on it adjacent to the Valensin Ranch on the northeast side of 99 and Arno Road. The entrance is on Arno Road just before it becomes Riley Road. The airport (which is little more than a blacktop airstrip) shares boundaries with Cosumnes River Preserve property on two sides which is primarily in grasslands and wetlands and is prime foraging habitat for Sandhill cranes, Swainson’s Hawks and a variety of waterfowl. There are large Great Egret, Great Blue heron, and Double-Crested cormorant rookeries less than a half a mile away. These rookeries are very active each Spring.
The Nature Conservancy and Sacramento County own land immediately to the north and west of the airstrip as part of the Cosumnes River Preserve. The goal of the Conservancy, the county and other partners of the Preserve, when they originally bought this land, was and still is to protect and restore critical habitats for wildlife sanctuary within the Cosumnes River watershed.
The owner, Dick Bjellend, would like to expand the barely used private airstrip into a public airport which, when built, will have 100 hangers, on the 160 acre property, and have 20 flight operations per day. This is a "build it and they will come" business approach and, in this case, very likely will result in a lot more business.
The Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups believe, and county counsel agrees, that if the Commission approves the land use as a public airport, the county will lose the ability to limit or otherwise adjust the number of flights. In other words, once the land use is approved, approval for future expansion will go into the hands of the FAA and/or CALTRANS.
The project proponents made their case to the Parks Commission on January 28, 2010. (See http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/parks/Recreation and Parks Commission Docs )
They did a fine job of blurring the issues and making false statements. One such statement was made by a biologist, Dianne Moore, who claimed that the nearby egret, heron, and cormorant rookeries no longer exist and have been abandoned for two years. We all know this is untrue. In fact, we have pictures of last year’s nesting activity with a couple of hundred birds using the site!
Having as many people as possible at the hearing will really help us. If you know anyone that cares about the protection of the Preserve then please ask them to attend. The airport proposal, if successful, could grant the airport control of land use for a diameter of up to 5 miles around it. Our present understanding is they may be able to kill birds in this area and remove habitat.
If the Commission's approval is appealed, you can keep informed about this issue by getting in touch with the Planning Commission at http://www.msa2.saccounty.net/parks/Pages/default.aspx or you can get in touch with SOS Cranes at yogoombah@yahoo.com.
