June 18, 2018
USACE MOU with Friends of the Wild Whoopers
Operations Chiefs - Mr. Dalton, Director of Civil Works, recently signed a Corps wide
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Friends of the Wild Whoopers to help
creatively and sustainably protect, restore and enhance whooping crane habitat. Because of
historical habitat loss and unregulated hunting, whooping cranes are now one of the most
endangered species in North America. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates 101 water
resource projects in NWD, MVD, and SWD within the migration range of the Arkansas
Wood
Buffalo population of whooping cranes. This group of whooping cranes is the only self-
sustaining, wild, migratory population in the United States and our projects contain crucial
stopover habitat for the birds to refuel during their migration. This national MOU will
further facilitate the Friends of the Wild Whoopers assessment of whooping crane habitat at
our projects. This agreement is necessary due to the size of the current range of whooping
cranes in NWD, MVD, and SWD as well as the historic range which also included projects in
LRD and SAD. Projects in this range can receive excellent benefits from this agreement, such
as:
Free habitat assessments Reports of available and potential whooping crane
habitat improvement projects Staff education on the cranes and conservation efforts for
this species Proactive conservation that promotes USACE as a leader in conserving our
nation's precious natural resources. The signed MOU is attached to this message and
also available on the NRM Gateway Partnerships page under national partnerships listing https://corpslakes.erdc.dr
en.mil/partners/list.cfm. Please copy and paste into your internet browser if an error
occurs.
For any questions, please contact Mr. Jeremy, Crossland, Program Manager for
Land Use and Natural Resources,(202) 761-4259 / Jeremy.M.Crossland@usace.army.mil).
Tom
Thomas P. Smith, P.E., SES
Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division
Back to E-mails and Memos
