The Cranes IUCN

2) Develop conservation programs in schools.
• Incorporate information about the importance of nature
and habitat protection and preservation in elementary
and secondary school text books and other teaching
materials.
• Organize programs involving visits to schools by local
conservation officials and visits by students to local
reserves.
• Organize through college and school nature clubs activities
involving the collection of data on the cranes and
the local flora and fauna.
3) Undertake extension work with local farmers to promote
farming practices that benefit both cranes and farmers.
4) Provide training opportunities for researchers and nature
reserve personnel.
• Train and equip guards and local managers of reserves.
Training should include instruction in ornithology,
censusing techniques, patrolling, crane conservation
education, and community involvement in conservation.
• Train nature reserve personnel in wetland ecology,
ecological monitoring, and reserve and management
planning.
• Provide opportunities for researchers and reserve managers
to train within China and abroad.
5) Promote ecotourism opportunities at Cao Hai and southcentral
Tibet that provide local economic benefits while
avoiding disturbance of the Black-necked Crane as well as
other wildlife and their habitats.
Captive Propagation and Reintroduction
1) Assess the distribution, status, and needs of the captive
population of Black-necked Cranes in China.
2) Implement the recommendations of the GCAR and CAMP
for cranes (Mirande et al. in press a). These are to:
• Manage the captive population of Black-necked Cranes
at the Intensive-2 (B priority) level, with a tentative target
population of 200 well-managed birds. Efforts may
intensify if the status of the species in the wild changes.
• Undertake further husbandry research in order to breed
the species more consistently and to ensure adequate
founder representation.
• Use rehabilitated birds to expand the captive population's
genetic pool.
• Develop a Global Animal Survival Plan (GASP) for the
species.
• Encourage Chinese representatives to assume the lead
role in maintaining the international studbook and coordinating
the GASP.
3) Utilize captive-bred cranes in education programs at
established nature reserves with high tourism potential
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(e.g., Cao Hai and Xundian).
2.15 RED-CROWNED CRANE
(Grus japonensis)
2.15.1 Summary
Scott R. Swengel
The Red-crowned Crane is the second rarest crane species,
with a total population in the wild of 1,700-2,000 birds. They
breed in large wetlands in temperate East Asia and winter
along rivers and in coastal and freshwater marshes in Japan,
China, and the Korean Peninsula. There are two main breeding
populations: a migratory population on the East Asia mainland
(northeastern China and Russia) and a resident population
on the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. In the winter, the
mainland population divides into two or three wintering subpopulations
(depending on whether wintering birds in the
Korean Peninsula are considered a single group). The total population
has fluctuated over the last century, probably reaching its
lowest point in the years following World War II. Although the
species has recovered in some areas, a substantial amount of
habitat has been lost to agricultural development and other
human economic activities. The species is classified as
Endangered under the revised IUCN Red List Categories.
Red-crowned Cranes prefer to nest and feed in marshes
with relatively deep water, and will nest only in areas with
standing dead vegetation. They are generalist feeders and prefer
wetter feeding sites, but also forage along dikes and in croplands.
On their wintering grounds they feed on waste (or
human-provided) grain, and on aquatic plants and animals in
coastal marshes and open watercourses.
Habitat loss and degradation constitute the principal
threats to the species. Continued agricultural and industrial
development affects breeding areas in Hokkaido, the Sanjiang
Plain in northeastern China, and the Amur River basin in
Russia. Water control and diversion projects (including proposed
dams on the Amur River and on the Yangtze River) and
the potential for conflict or development in the Korean
Demilitarized Zone pose large-scale threats to breeding,
migration, and wintering habitat. Other anthropogenic threats
include disturbance, intentional setting of fires, and overharvesting
of wetland resources in key breeding areas.
Conservation measures that have been taken to protect the
species and its habitats include: international agreements and
cooperative research (especially involving migration routes);
establishment of protected areas to safeguard habitat and minimize
disturbance; development of winter feeding stations and
the marking of nearby utility lines in Japan; regular surveys on
breeding and wintering grounds; preparation of a Population
Habitat and Viability Analysis for the species; cooperative
conservation and education programs focused on the species;