More than 3,300 acres of winter habitat for the endangered whooping crane was acquired along the Texas coast in a move conservationists described as another safeguard for the birds’ recovery. The International Crane Foundation, The Conservation Fund and the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program announced the acquisition Thursday, saying the land is crucial for the cranes that arrive each year to forage and roost near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. While the whooping crane population has rebounded in recent decades, groups said the birds still depend on continued protection of large landscapes as pressures mount on wetlands and grasslands.
The announcement came with a reminder of how closely the cranes’ survival remains tied to where they spend the winter. Carter Crouch, director of Gulf Coast programs for the International Crane Foundation, said the species’ conservation story includes both success and setbacks and credited ongoing work for the gains made so far. Crouch said, “We have a long way to go still, so there’s a lot of story to be written, and I’m super excited to be a small part of that.”
Conservationists said whooping cranes have grown from a near-collapse in the early 1940s, when only 16 birds existed in Texas. Today, more than 550 whooping cranes migrate from Canada to Texas in winter, and conservation officials said it is the last self-sustaining wild flock in the world. The birds breed and nest in wetlands around Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park before beginning a roughly 45-day, 2,500-mile (4,023-kilometer) migration south. In the winter, the cranes forage and roost in and near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, and officials said they can live more than 20 years in the wild and mate for life.
The new sanctuary acquisition is intended to expand protections around that winter range. The groups said the sanctuary, located southwest of Houston, includes two properties purchased for just over $8.4 million through grants, fundraising and hundreds of donations. One property, named the Wolfberry Whooping Crane Sanctuary, will be owned and managed by the International Crane Foundation, while the second property will be owned by The Conservation Fund until the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program buys it off and ultimately owns it.
Officials said the sanctuary’s name reflects the diet of the birds that will use the habitat. They said the Wolfberry Whooping Crane Sanctuary takes its name from the Carolina wolfberry shrub, which produces small red berries that whooping cranes eat, and they said the plant grows in the coastal habitats of Texas. The cranes also eat blue crabs, mollusks and fish found in the region, where the sanctuary is expected to support more than just cranes.
Conservationists also said the sanctuary will require active management because parts of the prairie have been overtaken by shrubs. They said the groups plan to use prescribed burns and other means to restore grassland. They also said they will plant smooth cordgrass to improve marshes, protect shorelines from erosion and serve as storm buffers for nearby residents, and they plan to rely on volunteers for activities including the annual Christmas bird counts. Once the sanctuary is operating, the groups said they hope to add guided tours and educational events.
The groups said the whooping crane’s winter habitat faces multiple threats, not only from land-use change but from broader climate pressures and energy infrastructure. They said the birds and other wildlife in the region face challenges from urban development, climate change and infrastructure for planet-warming oil, gas and coal. They also cited a wider pattern affecting birds worldwide, including the disappearance of the wetlands and grasslands they need, noting that the United Nations has reported that 35% of the world’s wetlands have been lost since the 1970s due to human activities, and that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the U.S. has lost at least 80% of its grasslands.
Other species in the area are also federally protected. The groups said the federally endangered aplomado falcon and the threatened black rail bird call the region home. They also said climate change could worsen threats to low-lying wetlands through sea-level rise in Texas and through permafrost loss in Canada, alongside changing rainfall patterns that can affect wetland availability in the Great Plains and other regions.
For birders, officials said the protected lands near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge are a reliable place to see whooping cranes. Julie Shackelford, Texas director for The Conservation Fund, said the only place in the U.S. where people can reliably see whooping cranes is in the Aransas area. She described the site as a destination for birders worldwide whose visits support nearby communities such as Rockport and Port Aransas.
Mike Forsberg, a conservation photographer who has documented North American cranes and published books including a 2024 title about whooping cranes, said the persistence of the species depends on people making it personal. He said, “The heart of keeping anything on the Earth … has to do with making it personal to you, and cranes are just a great doorway in,” and he added, “Of course they can. They’re resilient. But it’s up to us. And these habitats that are being protected now by the (International) Crane Foundation and by folks who just manage their land with a certain ethos … that’s critical.”