The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation (LWFF) have received a $25,000 donation from Cameron LNG in support of the department’s whooping crane reintroduction project.
In a Sept. 8 ceremony at Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge in Grand Chenier, Julie Nelson, vice president of government relations and public affairs for Cameron LNG, presented the check to LDWF Secretary Robert Barham and received a tour of the refuge where future juvenile crane releases are planned.
“I want to welcome our newest corporate sponsor in this wildlife endeavor,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham. “We appreciate the support from Cameron LNG as we strive to restore this magnificent species in the marshes of southwest Louisiana.”
The grant funding will provide for materials and supplies, including GPS transmitters, needed for crane re-introduction activities in and around Cameron Parish. Previous releases have been made from LDWF’s White Lake Wetland Conservation Area. Project biologists track the cranes as they move throughout the state and establish territory for breeding.
“Cameron LNG is committed to environmental preservation and restoration,” said Nelson. “Our support for LDWF’s whooping project demonstrates our philosophy of developing energy infrastructure compatible with protecting the natural environment.”
The whooping crane, a very vulnerable species, was found in south Louisiana until their demise during the late 1800s and early 1900s when little conservation ethic was in existence and conversion of prairies and marshlands to agriculture acreage became a trend. Since 2011, LDWF has soft released 60 isolation-reared, juvenile cranes provided by the US Geological Survey Research Center in Patuxent, Md., into rural southwest Louisiana, and 38 survive today. Nesting pairs within that experimental population have produced the first eggs in the wild in over 70 years, but no fledglings have resulted as yet.
The recovery plan goal is for Louisiana to reach a subpopulation of 25-30 productive pairs, which translates to about 130 cranes in Louisiana. This process could take 15 to 20 more years. To learn more about Louisiana’s whooping crane population, go to http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/wildlife/information.
Supporting LDWF’s efforts, the Foundation has coordinated receipt and dispersal of grant funds for stewardship, public outreach, and educational purposes. To contribute to the whooping crane project or any LDWF initiative, go to the LWFF website at http://lawff.org.