Refining reintroduction of whooping cranes with habitat use and suitability analysis

A successful species reintroduction depends, in part, on the correct identification of suitable habitats. In cases where a species has been extirpated from a region for decades, however, this task is fraught with uncertainty. Uncertainty can be minimized and adjusted for by monitoring and adaptive management. The central goal of this study was to identify reintroduction sites that facilitate dispersion of whooping cranes ( Grus americana ), a federally listed endangered species, into optimal habitat as quickly as possible. First, we described the habitat selection of breeding home ranges for reintroduced whooping cranes in and around Necedah National Wildlife Refuge of central Wisconsin. We defined home ranges as 95% fixed spatial kernel density estimates from location data gathered from nesting whooping cranes from April through July 2005–2010. Whooping crane home ranges contained more emergent herbaceous wetlands than expected by chance and less developed or barren land, forest, and scrubland. Breeding whooping crane home ranges usually were composed of distinct nesting territories and off‐territory elements; when moving off‐territory, cranes decreased wetland selection and increased selection for open uplands. Second, we used habitat composition values and strength of selection (as determined by Jacob's index) to create a habitat suitability map to identify potential habitats that breeding whooping cranes could use in unoccupied eastern Wisconsin. With this method, we identified 2 large suitable wetland complexes within our study area associated with the Fox and Rock Rivers. Based on this analysis, the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership began releasing whooping cranes into White River Marsh State Wildlife Area and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in 2011. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.