[TN-Bird] Hiwassee Crane Festival News
- From: "David Aborn" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-Bird" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:08:06 -0400
Here is a statement on TWRA's website regarding the cancellation of this
year's crane festival.
David Aborn
Chattanooga, TN
SANDHILL CRANE FESTIVAL - GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The Sandhill Crane Festival traces its beginning to a little more than 16
years ago. A long time bird watcher wanted to publicize the presence of
several thousand migrating sandhill cranes who found their way each fall and
winter to the Tennessee Wildlife Agency's Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge.
The bird watcher decided that a festival would be a good way to make others
aware of the annual occurrence. Later, the bird watcher met a wildlife
public education practitioner at a backyard rally in Chattanooga. Upon
hearing about the bird watcher's project, the practitioner decided to join
the bird watcher in his efforts.
The outcome of the two's collaboration has been The Sandhill Crane Festival,
an event that has delighted thousands of wildlife watchers.
At the time, Clarence Coffey was the TWRA Region III Information and
Education Coordinator, an area that encompasses 25 counties in the middle
and eastern portions of the state. Coffey, who recently retired as Region
III Manager and retired National Parks Service employee, Ken Dubke, created
a partnership for the event with the nearby Birchwood School and later the
Cherokee Removal Memorial. The weekend event grew to its pinnacle several
years ago when TWRA and Meigs County Tourism officials estimated over 4,000
people attended.
Today and then, the thousands of sandhill cranes using the Hiwassee pose a
real management challenge for wildlife managers in the states of Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee that host the bird's eastern flyway.
Every state in the Union has seen a decrease in the sale of hunting and
fishing licenses/permits and other revenue. State wildlife budgets have
been cut as a result. The sandhill crane event has never generated
continuing funding for the management of the wildlife at the Refuge and TWRA
finds itself having to make budget cuts. Using sound financial methods, the
Agency must look at cutting programs and projects.
"It was my hope when we got this event started the non-game community would
eventually realize that the hunting community had paid to establish the
Hiwassee Refuge as a heaven for migrating ducks and geese and other
waterfowl," Coffey explained.
The first sandhill cranes arrived on the scene at the Hiwassee Refuge in
1968 when 20 birds were observed resting on their migration south. Today,
wildlife biologists and managers estimate that the eastern flyway population
of sandhill cranes to be between 35,000 to 40,000 birds.
"The sale of Tennessee hunting and fishing licenses paid the costs of
providing a safe habitat during the growth of the sandhill crane eastern
population. While the wildlife watching community and money spent by birders
for their hobby has continued to increase, the hunting community and funding
sources generated to manage both game and non-game species has continued to
decrease nationwide," Coffey said.
"I think it is time the non-game wildlife watching community steps up to the
challenge to find a way to establish funding sources in a creative fashion
that lasts from year to year," Coffey added.
TWRA has co-sponsored the annual sandhill crane event with the help of the
Tennessee Wildlife Federation for the past several years and they have
contributed several thousand dollars during that time in areas such as
paying lecture series speaker's expenses and for live raptor shows, for
example. TWRA's contribution outside the budget to manage the Hiwassee
Refuge for migrating waterfowl, shorebirds, and indigenous wildlife species,
has grown to more than $16,000 on an annual basis.
The Chattanooga Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society has
contributed many volunteer man hours at the event providing expert birding
interpretation during the history of the event and made donations up to
$12,000 from local fundraisers.
"The TOS help has made a difference at the event and the money has helped
with habitat enhancement, construction at the viewing area, and wildlife
public education, but we need more from the birding community and other
types of organizations on a national scale," Coffey said.
This is not an end to the annual sandhill crane migration and biologists
predict the number of cranes that migrate to the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge
will continue to grow. Interested wildlife watchers may still enjoy the
beauty of the area and watch the cranes which may include an occasional
reintroduced whooping crane during their annual migration starting
historically in October and ending in March. The Ken and Lil Dubke Wildlife
Viewing Gazebo is open year-round and most days visitors can find a host of
wildlife species and maybe even an expert from the local TOS there.
Watch for news articles and check this Web site for crane migration updates
and about the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge where you may still enjoy the cranes.
=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER====================
The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with
first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation.
You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds
you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should
appear in the first paragraph.
_____________________________________________________________
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_____________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
______________________________________________________________
TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society
Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s)
endorse the views or opinions expressed
by the members of this discussion group.
Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------
Assistant Moderator Andy Jones
Cleveland, OH
-------------------------------
Assistant Moderator Dave Worley
Rosedale, VA
__________________________________________________________
Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ARCHIVES
TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/
MAP RESOURCES
Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif
Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com
_____________________________________________________________
Other related posts:
