International Crane Foundation

The International Crane Foundation (ICF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and conservation of the 15 species of cranes. Founded in 1973, ICF moved to its current 225-acre (91 ha) headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1984.

From the beginning, ICF was pledged to a mix of five essential activities: research, education, habitat protection, captive breeding and reintroduction. ICF tackled the extensive task of captive breeding of cranes, of which little experience or knowledge had previously existed, resulting in a succession of firsts. hooded and Siberian cranes produced young for the first time in captivity, and young Brolgas and black-necked cranes hatched for the first time in North America. The Foundation was also the first to hatch an endangered species from an egg fertilized by cryogenically preserved semen.

Over the past nearly 40 years, ICF has gathered unique collaborations and led effective community-based conservation programs, important research projects and innovative captive breeding and reintroduction efforts. These efforts have inspired unusual international cooperation – bringing together both North and South Koreans, for example – while helping improve livelihoods for people around the world and leading to the protection of millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands on the five continents where cranes live.

ICF is involved with both species of crane native to North America, the sandhill crane and the whooping crane. ICF is a founding partner of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, dedicated to the breeding and release of the endangered whooping cranes into a new migratory flock in the eastern United States. This flock summers at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin, and winters at the St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge and Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge, Florida. On June 22, 2006, two wild whooping crane chicks hatched in the Necedah NWR, the first to naturally hatch in the midwestern United States in over 100 years.

ICF maintains a world headquarters that over 25,000 people visit annually (ICF is open to the public April 15 - October 31). This site hosts a captive flock of approximately 100 cranes, including the only complete collection of all 15 species ever assembled. The campus offers live crane exhibits, an interactive education center, guided and self-guided tours, a research library, visitor center, and over four miles of hiking trails set among 100 acres of restored tall grass prairie, oak savanna, and wetlands. The ICF also offers numerous volunteering and seasonal internship opportunities in aviculture, education, and field ecology.