Protect the Call of the Cranes

The Greater Yellowstone Sandhill Crane Initiative

Each fall, the skies of eastern Idaho fill with the unmistakable calls of Sandhill Cranes—a timeless symbol of wildness and wonder in the Greater Yellowstone region. The Crane Initiative unites communities, farmers, and conservationists to protect these iconic birds and the habitats they depend on. By supporting this work, you’re helping ensure future generations can experience the magic of migration, right here at home.

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You know the route by heart: winding river corridors, open wetlands, quiet fields. These landscapes have always offered safe rest, food, and renewal.

As you near a familiar valley, you look down, expecting to see life stirring—cranes gathering, foraging, dancing. But something has changed. Rooftops replace fields. Roads cut across wetlands. The rhythms of the land are out of sync.

This is the reality facing Sandhill Cranes.

Each fall, these iconic birds concentrate in eastern Idaho to prepare for their long flight south to New Mexico. They depend on the delicate balance of working farms and healthy wetlands that make places like Teton Valley one of the most important pre-migration staging areas in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Their survival depends on us—on our commitment to protect the land they return to, year after year.

At Teton Regional Land Trust, we believe conservation is strongest when it brings people together. That’s why we’re excited to launch a community-driven fundraising challenge to permanently support the Greater Yellowstone Sandhill Crane Initiative.

Unite for the Cranes

Community, Farmers and Conservationists

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Habitat Conservation and Restoration

Enhancing and protecting key habitats across private, state, and federal lands to ensure cranes have access to the foraging, roosting, and loafing sites they require.

Supplemental Feeding Programs

Establishing grain lure crops to compensate for habitat loss, mitigate agricultural conflicts, and provide reliable food resources during critical staging periods.

Population Monitoring

Conducting annual fall surveys to assess crane populations, track habitat use patterns, and guide adaptive management strategies.

Public Education and Outreach

Increasing involvement, education, and engagement in the Crane Initiative to improve community understanding of our region’s unique wildlife, as well as enhance the economic benefits of a watchable wildlife opportunity. Learn more about Cranes in the Classroom.

We do this work because

This ecosystem is irreplaceable.

Teton Regional Land Trust is located in the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—the largest nearly intact temperate ecosystem in the world and home to the full range of native wildlife. Each fall, thousands of Sandhill Cranes from across the region, including Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, gather in the Upper Snake River Valley to rest and refuel before migrating south. Drawn by the valley’s rare mix of wetlands and working farmland, this area supports the largest premigration staging population of Sandhill Cranes in the Greater Yellowstone and is one of the most important stopovers for the entire Rocky Mountain Population. Protecting these birds means safeguarding the integrity of an ecosystem that sustains everything from grizzlies to songbirds—and continues to inspire people around the world.

8th Annual

Greater Yellowstone Crane Festival

Celebrate the migration of Sandhill Cranes through Teton Valley at this annual event. The 8th Annual Greater Yellowstone Crane Festival will be returning to Teton Valley September 17-20, 2025. All proceeds from Greater Yellowstone Crane Festival events go towards the Greater Yellowstone Sandhill Crane Initiative at Teton Regional Land Trust. This project’s purpose is to secure and actively manage habitat in Teton Valley in order to sustain the largest pre-migration staging population of Sandhill Cranes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

DETAILS

Conservation Partners

 

Rod Drewien Crane Conservation Fund

Throughout his 54-year career, Rod worked for many agencies as their partner and good friend, studying migratory birds from the Arctic to southern Mexico. Until his retirement in 1999, he was affiliated with the University of Idaho and Hornocker Wildlife Institute. Rod had the unusual freedom to work across administrative and geographical boundaries to study the birds and the challenges they faced throughout their annual cycle. He loved that freedom and dedicated his life to furthering his knowledge of waterbirds and clearly communicating that knowledge to the scientific, wildlife management, and layman communities. In addition to submitting countless reports to contracting agencies, Rod published over 50 scientific papers on migratory birds, including 36 on Sandhill and Whooping Cranes.

Much of his research was foundational, often providing the first documentation of the behavior, migratory traditions, pathways, and seasonal habitats used by species such as the Greater Sandhill Crane, Whooping Crane, Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, Trumpeter Swan, and many other associated waterbirds. From 1969-2016, he studied Sandhill Cranes in the Rocky Mountain Region, documenting their year-round ecology. He refined capture and marking methods and developed fall population and recruitment surveys which are now conducted annually by federal and state agencies. His studies of crane mortality on nesting, wintering, and migrational resting areas have been integral to the establishment of protection measures used by managers for Sandhill and Whooping Cranes (eg. fences and powerlines).

The Rod Drewien Crane Conservation Fund is set up to honor Rod’s career-long commitment to crane conservation in the region. The Fund will support the Greater Yellowstone Sandhill Crane Initiative, a program facilitated by the Teton Regional Land Trust in partnership with other state and federal agencies and non-profit organizations. The intent is to build the Fund over time to support the annual programmatic work of the Initiative as well as larger initiatives and conservation acquisition and restoration projects.

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Watch the Virtual Crane Festival Presentation to Learn About Sandhill Cranes and Crane Conservation
Watch Rob Cavallaro’s talk from the 2021 Greater Yellowstone Crane Festival

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Conserving working farms and ranches, fish and wildlife habitat, and scenic open spaces in Eastern Idaho for this and future generations.

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1520 S. 500 W.
P.O. Box 247
Driggs, ID 83422

208-354-8939
info@tetonlandtrust.org