The inaugural Yampa Valley Crane Festival takes place September 16-19 in Steamboat Springs and Hayden, plus a pre-festival screening of the International Wildlife Festival award-winning film Born To Fly on Thursday, Sept. 13 as part of the library's ongoing Wild Films series.

Library Hall is Yampa Valley Crane Festival headquarters for Tuesday & Wednesday, Sept. 18-19, with talks, films and a two-day art show. Please click on the links below for detailed festival schedules for each day.

All events are FREE.

Sunday, Sept. 16
Monday, Sept. 17
Tuesday, Sept. 18
Keynote Speaker, Dr. George Archibald
Schedule for Wednesday, Sept. 19 is below...

6:15 a.m.     
Board shuttle at the Stockbridge Transit Center (1505 Lincoln Ave.) for crane viewing in Hayden. A $5 donation is suggested to cover the cost of fuel for the shuttle.

7 a.m.    
View cranes near The Nature Conservancy’s Carpenter Ranch in Hayden.

Maps to crane viewing sites are available at the Carpenter Ranch (on U.S. Hwy 40 in Hayden), Bucking Rainbow (730 Lincoln Ave. in Steamboat Springs), Off the Beaten Path Bookstore (68 Ninth Street, in Steamboat Springs) and at the Bud Werner Memorial Library front desk (1289 Lincoln Ave. in Steamboat Springs). Or check it out on Google Maps here.

10 a.m.– 5 p.m.
Photographer Don Tudor's crane photos on display at Sleeping Giant Gallery, 601 Lincoln Ave.

10 a.m.–7 p.m.
Crane artwork by local artists on display at The Artists' Gallery of Steamboat, 1009 Lincoln Ave.

10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen's crane photos on display at Mangelsen's Images of Nature, 730 Lincoln Ave. Manglesen's 48-minute  DVD  Cranes of the Grey Wind  will screen upon request. Mention you are attending the Yampa Valley Crane Festival to receive a 25% discount off any gallery purchase.

10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Sandhill Crane Art Show in Library Hall.

10:30 – 11 a.m.     
A 10-minute DVD runs continuously in Library Hall showcasing photographer Darlyne Merkel's images of cranes coming, going, squabbling and calling.

11 a.m. - Noon
The Status and Conservation of the Greater Sandhill Crane in the Yampa Valley, a talk with Robert Skorkowsky in Library Hall.

Robert Skorkowsky is the Rocky Mountain Region Avian Program Coordinator with the US Forest Service. He has worked  with the Forest Service in the Yampa Valley for 20 years and his favorite species of bird are cranes.

 

12:15  – 1 p.m.
Cranes and People – Our Special Bond across Time, Geography and Cultures, a talk with Ken Strom in Library Hall.

Ken Strom is the Deputy Director of Audubon Rockies, the National Audubon Society’s regional program for Colorado and Wyoming.  A graduate of Cornell University, Ken is an ecologist who has specialized in the management and restoration of wetland habitats of cranes and other water birds. In the 1980s Ken was Manager of Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary for Sandhill Cranes and Whooping Cranes on the Platte River in Nebraska. During the 1990s he coordinated a series of international partnerships in which he advised scientists and policy-makers in Russia and Pakistan on conservation strategies for cranes, rivers, and wetland habitats. Ken has published numerous articles on wildlife conservation and co-edited the book Sharing the Earth with his wife Pat Waak. They make their home in Erie, CO.

 

1:15 – 2:15 p.m.
Cranes of the Rockies, Cranes of the World, a talk with naturalist and author Evelyn Horn in Library Hall.

Evelyn Horn is a retired elementary school teacher turned naturalist and author. She has been writing columns on native plants and birds for local newspapers for 20 years and has published three books which are available for sale at Off the Beaten Path Bookstore. Horn has been monitoring cranes in Delta County, CO for the last 17 years.

 

2:30 – 3:05 p.m.
Raising Kid Colt, a film by Nina Faust and Edgar Bailey about a Sandhill Crane family at the Kachemak Crane Watch in Homer, Alaska, screening in Library Hall.

3:15  – 7 p.m.
A 10-minute DVD runs continuously showcasing photographer Darlyne Merkel's images of cranes coming, going, squabbling and calling.

7 – 8 p.m. 
Cranes at High Altitude, a talk in Library Hall with the festival's keynote speaker, George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation.

George Archibald will  share an amazing story about how Greater Sandhill Cranes in the Rocky Mountains of  North America,  Black-necked  Cranes on Asia’s Tibetan Plateau, and Demoiselle Cranes that migrate over the peaks of the Himalayas, survive at high altitudes.  He will also explain the unique challenges in conserving these remarkable creatures as human populations spread up the slopes and as fragile high-altitude climates change.

Dr. George Archibald co-founded the International Crane Foundation, establishing it as the world center for the study and preservation of cranes using a creative combination of field research, help to local people living near the cranes, public education, habitat protection, and captive propagation and reintroduction.  Today the International Crane Foundation supports conservation projects in 45 nations. Dr. Archibald received his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University.  In 1984 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (nicknamed the Genius Grant) for his work with cranes.  He works on programs in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cuba, China, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea, and Russia. 

The Yampa Valley Crane Festival is presented by the Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition and co-sponsored by American Kestrel Press, Audubon Rockies, BookTrails, Bud Werner Memorial Library, Colorado State Council of the Humane Society of the United States, The Nature Conservancy, Klauzer & Tremaine, LLC, Mangelsen Images of Nature, Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, U.S. Forest Service, Yampa Valley Birding Club, Yampa Valley Land Trust and Yampatika.

Questions about the Yampa Valley Crane Festival? Please send us an email.