Flight of Hope Project: The Conservation of Cranes

Every species has a place in maintaining the fragile balance of our Earth, from the bumblebee, recently categorized in the U.S. as endangered, to the wild crane. We have a responsibility not only to preserve humankind, but all the creatures that share our world. This was the motivation behind Igor Makarov’s involvement with the “Flight of Hope Project”.

Since the 1970s, crane conservation efforts have been implemented in the regions of Western and Central Asia. In 1979, a breeding ground for rare cranes was constructed at the Oka State Nature Reserve (Oka Crane Breeding Center — OCBC). The Center’s main goal was to treat, re-populate, and safely reintroduce the cranes back into the wild — which has since proven greatly successful.

Igor Makarov first realized the need for these conservation efforts when he learned of the crane’s nesting grounds in the Yamalo-Nenets region, where his company was actively developing natural gas fields.

Igor Makarov was an early proponent of this project, and upon meeting George Archibald, the founder of the International Crane Foundation (ICF), Makarov felt compelled to foster and oversee the future and continued sustainability of the project.

After studying the cranes’ migration routes, scientists developed new, safer options for the cranes to migrate while avoiding predatory birds and aggressive weather patterns.

The Flight of Hope Project helped design and build five specialized motor-gliders to lead captive-bred cranes along their new migration routes. The first iterations of the project was attempted in 2002, when a pilot named Angelo D’Arrigo led the cranes with a hand-glider. The cold and rainy weather conditions, however, proved too much for the non-motorized apparatus. Due to lessons learned from that first attempt, the project began employing motorized ultra-light planes. Initially, these ultra-light planes traveled at a speed far greater than the cranes, but after the construction of a special motorized hand-glider for the Flight and Hope Project, a breakthrough became eminent.

In 2012, ten Siberian Crane chicks were bred and raised specifically for the Flight of Hope Project at the Oka Crane Breeding Centre (OCBC). Upon hatching, the chicks were trained to follow an ultra-light plane during feedings. When the chicks started to fly, they were trained to follow the glider at a special site within the nature preserve.

As the cranes follow the gliders, pilots simulate the role of a parent who lead the new chicks onto their new migration route. The project proved that new chicks could successfully migrate and, amazingly, return the following spring.

As a result of the efforts of OCBC, ICF, and Igor Makarov’s company, much has been learned about the Siberian and Red-crowned Cranes. Due to the Flight of Hope’s efforts, numerous cranes have been studied, bred, directed towards safer migration paths, and reintroduced into their natural habitat.

Being a part of a larger Siberian Crane Program, Flight of Hope was modeled after the North American project to reintroduce the endangered Whooping Cranes. With that model in mind, Flight of Hope has been funded by governmental and non-governmental organizations like ICF and Operation Migration.

The project has received much praise for its humanitarian efforts. Since 2002, ornithologists and scientists from over 10 countries have participated in the Flight of Hope Project.