The 2025 Crane Nest Camera Season has concluded.

conserving rocky mountain greater sandhill cranes + their habitat through science + education

The Greater Sandhill Crane is an iconic species of the Yampa Valley in Northwest Colorado. Returning in the spring from wintering grounds in New Mexico and Arizona, cranes nest and raise their young in wetland areas throughout the valley.

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Interested in Sponsoring the 14th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival?

Each year, the Yampa Valley Crane Festival is made possible through the generosity of our community partners. We invite you to join us by becoming a sponsor. 

Sponsorships support Greater Sandhill Cranes and ecotourism in the Yampa Valley, promote your business or organization to both locals and visitors, and include an invitation to a special private reception. 

If your business or organization is interested in supporting this cherished event, please contact us at info@coloradocranes.org to find out more about festival sponsorship levels and benefits.

Learn more about the Yampa Valley Crane Festival by clicking here. 

Crane Contests Underway:

CCCC is accepting entries for three contests that allow you to showcase your creative skills and your appreciation of Greater Sandhill Cranes. Please follow the links below for complete contest rules and information: 

Reach out to us at info@coloradocranes.org with questions. We look forward to receiving your entries!

 

 

 

 

 

Third Grade Crane Education Success!

That’s a wrap; CCCC successfully delivered an updated 2025 school program to every third grade classroom in Routt and Moffat Counties thanks to the dedicated support of our incredible volunteers. 

The program aims to increase knowledge and awareness of Greater Sandhill Cranes by educating students about the cranes’ characteristics, habitats, and life cycle.

  • 23 classrooms, 361 students, and 24 adults reached.
  • Programs were led by CCCC’s Conservation & Education Coordinator and supported by 2 CCCC staff, 6 volunteers and CCCC’s Board President. 

Our sincere gratitude to everyone involved with supporting this program. Thank you for sharing the joy of cranes with local youth!  

 

YAMPA VALLEY CRANE FESTIVAL

Thank you for attending the 13th annual festival. We hope you enjoyed your time in the Yampa Valley! Save the date for the 14th annual festival:

August 28 – 31, 2025

Our appreciation for the crane grows with the slow unraveling of earthly history. His tribe, we now know, stems out of the remote Eocene. The other members of the fauna in which he originated are long since entombed within the hills. When we hear his call we hear no mere bird. We hear the trumpet in the orchestra of evolution. He is the symbol of our untamable past, of that incredible sweep of millennia which underlies and conditions the daily affairs of birds and men.

– Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac