\u201cSo far, we\u2019ve never talked to anyone who was angry,\u201d Forsberg said in early June. \u201cMaybe they were indifferent at first, but they\u2019ve all been proud of where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from education, Forsberg had another goal: identify a flyway touring route for others to follow. Forsberg knows of many U.S. trails built around landscapes or history, but none defined by a migration.<\/p>\n
Bigger picture<\/p>\n
\u201cPedaling the Whooper Highway\u201d joins a long list of efforts to learn more about cranes and their habitats and tell those stories. Each is like an addition to a Great Plains\/Central Flyway quilt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to the Platte Basin Timelapse, Forsberg\u2019s storytelling projects include books and \u201cFollow the Water,\u201d a Nebraska Public Media documentary that follows Forsberg and filmmaker Pete Stegen as they travel the Platte River from its Wyoming headwaters to the Missouri River.<\/p>\n
For 50-plus years, International Crane Foundation co-founder George Archibald and his staff have studied cranes in captivity and in remote places around the world. \u201cPedaling the Whooper Highway\u201d provides an opportunity to educate people living the Central Flyway on important conservation issues, including the safe placement of wind turbines, which can kill migrating birds.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the major wetlands where whooping cranes rest during migration are protected, there are hundreds of smaller wetlands that also provide important habitat for the cranes but are now disappearing through reduced rainfall as a consequence of climate change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Forsberg said he felt the weight of migration while on the road and gained a better understanding of how whooping cranes must adjust to day-to-day conditions. \u201cYou just think about what\u2019s ahead of you, that day, that morning, that mile,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Caven recalled how early in their journey he heard only eastern meadowlarks. When they crossed into Kansas, they heard their first western meadowlark, then a mix of both. Soon, there were only western meadowlark songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the wonderful things about the natural world is it can make you feel small,\u201d Caven added. \u201cI love that, but others may not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heading home<\/p>\n
With the trip complete, the two will focus on homework. Caven has a deadline to send a draft report to the North American Crane Working Group. Forsberg will organize iPhone photos and videos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The travelers have just begun to put their experiences into words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSo far, we\u2019ve never talked to anyone who was angry,\u201d Forsberg said in early June. \u201cMaybe they were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-361769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}