Some of the most rewarding work we get to be participate in revolves around aiding animals we will never get to interact with – building habitat or enriching conditions to aid in favourable environmental outcomes is demanding, arduous and damn cool. In late May of 2024, our team had the opportunity to help the Wilder Institute enrich a whooping crane habitat where they care for these endangered birds.
The long-distance migrators who typically travel over 4000KM from their breeding grounds in Canada to wintering grounds in the southern US are known for their 5-foot stature. This alongside their distinctive “whooping” call makes them the tallest (and in my option the coolest) bird in North America. Due to habitat loss and overhunting in the early to mid 1900’s, these birds were brought to the brink of extinction. Impactful work like this dedicated conservation breeding and reintroduction program has increased population numbers but they are not yet thriving. Factors like habitat limitations, poor reproductive success and poaching keep population numbers at risk – so what can be done?
Our friends at the Wilder Institute have answered the whooping call and proudly lead as Canada’s only conservation breeding program for the whooping crane. Taken from the Wilder Institute website “Working with our partners, we study whooping cranes in and near Wood Buffalo National Park. Researchers are using satellite imagery to detect nesting whooping cranes and remote cameras to study causes of reproductive failure.” A challenge whooping cranes face is with low egg hatch rates. Researchers aim to distinguish between male infertility and early embryo death to understand the causes of hatch failures. This knowledge will enhance the effectiveness of captive breeding programs and highlight key areas for further research.
So with that understanding, where do we come in? Alongside the Wilder Institute team, we were tasked with planting hundreds of sapling willows on large dirt mounds that were positioned between whooping crane habitats to act as a natural windbreak and privacy screen between birds. After a site briefing by the Wilder Institute team, we got stuck into it - we began by clearing dead brush and proceeded to plant a variety of willow species that would thrive in the present environment. These willows were called “Salix Schwerini” and are part of the Swede variety – the cultivars are; “Bjorn”, “Sven” and “Tully”. What is unique isn’t found in their visual characteristics, but rather in their hardiness, or general toughness. They are very drought tolerant, and to grow in soil that is toxic to many other plants. These varietals also grow very fast, creating a large amount of edible biomass – fun fact, excess willow will be harvested and fed to gorillas starting in the Summer of 2025!
Planting the willows was both fulfilling and physically demanding – hunched over or on our knees we used simple hand tools like hand trowels to create optimum sized holes. We would then place a single willow sapling into its newly created home before carefully sealing it with surrounding dirt ensuring there were no air pockets near the root ball that would kill the plant. Over the course of a few hours, we were able to scour two large mounds and planted roughly 450 plants that would take to the conditions quickly and grow at a rapid pace ensuring their survival during the punishing winter months.
While this work does not directly interact with the birds in question it is a valuable contribution to the work the Wilder Institute has been leading since 1992. Taken from their website “The Wilder Institute aims to strengthen our understanding of the challenges the whooping cranes are faced with. By improving translocation success through research of alternate methods and improving captive and wild reproductive success, we aim to establish self-sustaining populations of whooping cranes in the wild that are genetically stable and resilient to environmental events.
We are proud to work alongside an organization like the Wilder Institute because their commitment and passion for environmental stewardship mirrors our own. As Canada’s tree planting coffee company and the only Canadian 2% for Conservation Certified coffee roaster, we believe it is our duty to leave it better than we found it and inspire others to invest into our wild places.
Want to learn more about other Wilder Institute projects we have helped with, check out our blog on the endangered burrowing owl HERE. Wanting to wear your support? Check out our stylish Canadian made collaboration “Wilder X C Heritage Co.” Sweaters featuring the Vancouver marmot – a critically endangered and uniquely Canadian species that the Wilder Institute is committed to helping. Like our Buy A Bag = Plant A Tree program, proceeds from the sale of these sweaters go towards the Wilder Institute and their re-wilding programs.
