WHOOPING CRANE HABITAT ALTERATION ANALYSIS AT ARANSAS NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, TEXAS

Authors

C. Lee Sherrod, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Richard Medina, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Date of this Version

1992

Document Type

Article

Citation

Sherrod C.L., and R. Medina. Whooping crane habitat alteration analysis at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. In: Wood D. A., ed. 1992. Proceedings 1988 North American Crane Workshop, Feb. 22–24, 1988. Lake Wales, Florida (Tallahassee, FL: State of Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Nongame Wildlife Program Technical Report #12, 1992), pp. 87-100.

Comments

Used by permission of the North American Crane Working Group.

Abstract

Aquatic, wetland, and upland habitat changes were quantified within the approximate critical habitat of the endangered whooping crane (Grus americana) along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) through Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and San Antonio, Bay, Texas. Study procedures employed comparative analysis of pre-GIWW (1930) and present (1986) aerial photography to provide a basis for the assessment of positive and negative impacts of the construction, operation and maintenance of the GIWW, principally on the whooping crane, but also on biota in general. Thirteen habitat mapping categories were utilized to describe an approximately 1,830 m wide corridor along the GIWW from Blackberry Island near Port O'Connor southwestward to Dunham Island, south of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. An 11 % loss of whooping crane habitat has occurred from 1941 to 1986 due to construction, operation and maintenance of the GIWW and Victoria Channel.