Black Crowned Crane
International Crane Foundation, Crane Media Collective

Crane Fest Keynote: Africa's Cranes with Kerryn Morrison

Saturday, August 31, 2019 - 1:30pm to 2:45pm
  • Library Hall
A free community talk with ICF's Africa Crane Conservation Manager, presenting “Africa’s Cranes, Wetlands and Communities: An Exciting Story of Hope and Success."

A free community talk for the Yampa Valley Crane Festival!

Kerryn Morrison, International Crane Foundation's Africa Crane Conservation Manager, talks about “Africa’s Cranes, Wetlands and Communities: An Exciting Story of Hope and Success.”  Africa’s four resident and charismatic cranes – the Blue, Grey Crowned, Black Crowned and Wattled Cranes – are flagships for Africa’s wetlands and grasslands.  As flagships for conservation, these cranes provide us with an opportunity to secure key watersheds that are important not only for cranes but benefit people who also depend on these landscapes.  Working at key crane sites across Sub-Saharan Africa, Morrison will share some of the projects that the International Crane Foundation/Endangered Wildlife Trust  Partnership is involved with, which include community based approaches, securing land within working landscapes, addressing illegal trade, and research.

About the speaker

Kerryn Morrison

Kerryn Morrison has been involved with crane conservation since she conducted her master’s research on cranes in the Dullstroom area of South Africa in 1995. Kerryn joined the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a South African based NGO in 1995, and in 2005 became the leader of the newly established International Crane Foundation (ICF) / Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) Partnership’s African Crane Conservation Program. This partnership ideally brought together crane expertise and conservation knowledge from around the world, grounded within the African context. Morrison is now ICF’s VP International: Director of Africa and the EWT’s Senior Manager: Africa. She oversees a team spread across the key crane sites across Sub-Saharan Africa, all in an effort to secure Africa’s four resident, threatened crane species – Blue, Grey Crowned, Black Crowned and Wattled Cranes. Passionate about cranes, wetlands and people, Morrison drives an approach that includes multiple stakeholders in an integrated approach to conservation that benefits both cranes and people on the same land.

About the Yampa Valley Crane Festival

The Greater Sandhill Crane is an iconic species of the Yampa Valley. Returning in the spring, cranes nest and raise their young in wetland areas throughout the valley. In late summer and early fall, hundreds of cranes from the Rocky Mountain flock join the local birds to rest and feed before continuing their journey south. The festival includes daily crane viewings, expert speakers, films, art exhibits, workshops, family activities and more. All community activities and events are free unless otherwise indicated in the program, and Bud Werner Memorial Library is festival headquarters and the venue for many of these talks, films and events.

Learn more about the Yampa Valley Crane Festival at www.coloradocranes.org.