Why isn the USFWS establishing another population that would use the western flyway and winter in Mexico?
You are absolutely right that it’s important to disperse the population. The problem is that we’re still ironing out the best techniques for reestablishing cranes. It isn’t easy to start a population because the birds must learn their migration route from their parents (or foster parents in an Ultralight). And reintroducing cranes has proven to be extremely expensive and labor-intensive. I’m sure there simply won’t be any funding for starting another population until this project proves successful. That will be known after the birds are nesting and raising their young successfully. Right now prospects are excellent! But even if this group grows well, finding funding to establish a western population will be difficult when so many other endangered and threatened species also need help. And with changing weather patterns and increasing human populations contributing to ever increasing pressures on water resources in the West, prospects for cranes there are lower than where the climate is
