DALLAS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Conservationists point to the record number of whooping cranes that returned to wintering grounds in Texas as proof that the embattled Endangered Species Act works.
This week's report of a record 213 endangered whoopers at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge arrived as a big congressional fight appears to be brewing over the 1973 federal law.
Western governors are meeting this weekend to discuss reforms they want the Republican-controlled Congress to address in the next session to resolve conflicts over endangered species.
The experience of the whooping crane is one of the success stories of the Endangered Species Act, according to John Kostyack, senior counsel with the National Wildlife Federation, one of the nation's most influential conservation groups.
"There is a myth out there that the Endangered Species Act is broken," Kostyack said. "The whooping crane is one of many examples showing that the law actually works when people make good-faith efforts. The accomplishment here is striking."
There were only 15 whooping cranes known to exist in Texas in 1941 when efforts began to save the 5-foot-tall, white cranes and their critical habitat. The birds nest in the summer in Canada and then fly 2,400 miles to Texas for the winter.
A count conducted before Thanksgiving found 213 cranes at the refuge and surrounding coastal wetlands north of Corpus Christi where they forage for blue crabs. There were 181 adults and 32 young birds in the only natural wild flock that still exists.
"This is the highest number of endangered whooping cranes wintering in Texas in the last 100 years," said Tom Stehn, the whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the refuge. There were 19 more birds than last year.
This was despite a shooting incident in Kansas along the migration route that killed one crane and left a second wounded. Hunters mistook the protected whooping cranes for sand hill cranes, which are legal hunting targets in some states.
The wounded crane was treated at Kansas State University and then moved to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., where a whooping crane breeding program has existed since 1967.
Conservationists want to establish at least two flocks of the whooping cranes to ensure their survival in case one is wiped out by a storm. A second flock is being built in Florida with the help of captive breeding. The current total North American population of wild and captive cranes is 468.
Stehn attributes the increased population this year to good nest production at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. There were 54 nesting pairs that fledged 40 chicks during the summer months, and the young were old enough to fly by August.
Kostyack, the NWF spokesman, said the whooping crane would probably be extinct today if it was not for the Endangered Species Act. He said the success is a tribute to the cooperation of federal, state, local and private interests.
"This is one of the cases where everybody can sort of pat each other on the back and say we have a great success story," he said. "It was not necessarily cheap, but I don't think there is anybody who would say it was not worth it."
Critics complain, however, that while the goal of the act is laudable, more and more species have been listed over the years and very few have been removed, leading to more conflicts between wildlife protection restrictions and other interests.
This is a complaint of the Western Governors Association, led by Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, which is meeting this weekend in San Diego to work out some recommendations.
Recent statistics show that of the 1,200 plus species listed under the federal law, only 14 have been recovered enough to be removed from the list, according to the association.
Governors, conservationists, ranchers, farmers and wildlife experts hope to find ways to remove obstacles to the recovery of the listed species and better accomplish the goals of the law to save endangered species.
"The western voice in these discussions is essential," Owens said.
The governors want to recommend reforms to Congress that will establish recovery goals for endangered species. They also hope to improve the science use to make policy decisions, he said.
A current worry of the western governors is the greater sage grouse, which inhabits more than 110 million acres in 11 states. Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to announce in the next few weeks whether it will go on the protected list.
There is increasing pressure in the West to ease the conflicts between conservation laws and the interests of agriculture, urban development and oil and gas production.
None of the critics say they want to do away with the Endangered Species Act, which has saved species like the whooping crane and the bald eagle, but they want reforms that make it more workable in today's West.
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