Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition

Presenters of the Yampa Valley Crane Festival

2014 Crane Festival – Brief Summary

2014 Festival Activities

  • Daily guided sunrise and sunset crane viewing sessions
  • Crane Coloring Contest Award Ceremony for elementary students
  • Educational displays about cranes and their habitat on display in the entry to Library Hall at the Bud Werner Memorial Library, 1289 Lincoln Avenue
  • Guided bird walk along Walton Creek Trail led by Ted Floyd, birder extraordinaire and editor of Birding magazine
  • Wine and cheese reception at the Steamboat Art Museum featuring the juried travelling “Birds in Art 2013” show from the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin
  • Crane yard art display and silent auction on the Library Lawn
  • Family activity day with games, crafts, stories, dancing and more for children and families at the Library
  • Optics display on the Library Lawn
  • Guided bird walk at The Nature Conservancy’s Yampa River Preserve in Hayden with Ted Floyd, birder extraordinaire and editor of Birding magazine
  • Wildlife Photography Workshop taught by Gerhard Assenmacher and Abby Jensen
  • Gondola ride and a guided nature/bird walk on the Steamboat Ski Area
  • Barbecue dinner, bird walk, and ranch house tour at The Nature Conservancy’s historic Carpenter Ranch in Hayden followed by guided crane viewing
  • Horse-drawn wagon tour of the TS Jost “crane friendly” working ranch in Hayden, CO
  • Sketch-A-Crane workshop with plein air artist Chula Beauregard
  • Guided Birding by Pontoon Boat at Stagecoach State Park
  • “Coffee, Cranes, Conservation and Conversation.” An informal dutch treat coffee talk with International Crane Foundation President and CEO, Richard Beilfuss
  • Crane Storytime for youngsters at the Library
  • Roundtable discussion focusing on water usage and crane habitat

2014 Festival Speakers

  • Keynote speaker, Dr. Richard Beilfuss, President and CEO of the International Crane Foundation presented “Cranes: Ambassadors for Conservation”. Rich has a wealth of knowledge about cranes and conservation that he shared with us.
  • Rod Drewien, wildlife biologist, avian researcher and leading expert on the Rocky Mountain population of Greater Sandhill Cranes presented “Everything you ever wanted to know about Rocky Mountain Greater Sandhill Cranes”.
  • “Learning about birds in the digital age: Lessons from Northwest Colorado” was presented by Birding magazine editor and birder extraordinaire Ted Floyd using images digitally captured during the festival. It was followed by a book signing of Ted’s latest book, the ABA Field Guide to Birds of Colorado.
  • Naturalist Evey Horn presented the film Hope Takes Wing about endangered Whooping Cranes. It described Operation Migration, the project to teach new migration routes to captive-bred Whooping Cranes through the use of ultra-light aircraft.
  • Richard Beilfuss, President and CEO of the International Crane Foundation, Geoff Blakeslee, The Nature Conservancy’s Yampa River Project Director and 6 year member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and Scott Miller, Wildlife Biologist for the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuges (a major staging area for the Rocky Mountain Population of Greater Sandhill Cranes) participated in a roundtable discussion moderated by U.S. Forest Service Hydrologist Liz Schnackenberg focusing on water usage and crane habitat. We learned about the impacts of a changing water world on cranes in the Yampa Valley, in the San Luis Valley, and in areas around the world.

2014 Festival Films

  • Crane Song was a stunning visual essay of the sandhill cranes’ migration through Nebraska. Our 2012 keynote speaker, Michael Forsberg, was featured in the film.
  • Cranes of the Rockies focused on the Rocky Mountain Population of Greater Sandhill Cranes and was produced by Colorado videographer Michael Bennett.
  • Raising Kid Colt followed the adventures of a young Sandhill Crane and his parents over two summers at the Kachemak Crane Watch in Alaska. It was produced and narrated by Nina Faust.

2014 Festival Sponsors and Partners

Abby Jensen Photography, Alpine Lumber, Bud Werner Memorial Library, Ciao Gelato, City of Steamboat Springs, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Gerhard Assenmacher Photography, Klauzer & Tremaine, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, The Nature Conservancy, Tom Thurston at Stagecoach Marina, U.S. Forest Service, Wyndham Vacation Rentals, Yampa Valley Birding Club, Yampa Valley Land Trust, Yampatika

The third annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival was held September 12-15, 2014