The presentation will deal with reasons why the Whooping Crane is an endangered species, and the efforts being made to keep it from extinction. Apart from the "natural" flock that migrates between northern Canada and the South Texas Coast as it has for untold generations, two "man-made" flocks are in the process of establishment. One of these is non-migratory and lives in Central Florida. The second is a new migratory flock that will fly between Central Wisconsin and Florida's Gulf Coast, thus restoring Whooping Cranes to part of their former range in the Eastern United States. Establishing flocks in several locations in North America is important because it provides a hedge against extinction, should there be a natural or man-made catastrophe in any of the locations where these birds occur.

We will relate Whooping Crane conservation to the bigger picture of wildlife conservation, in particular the importance of preserving adequate habitats, in this case, the wetlands that are critical to Whooping Crane’s survival. In this context, the Whooping Crane may be seen as a "flagship species," because preserving its habitat also preserves habitat for hundreds, perhaps thousands of other species, some of which are threatened or endangered in their own rights.