Pedaling the Whooper Highway | Audubon

Editor’s observe: Conservation alongside the Platte River is a collaborative effort, and Rowe Sanctuary works intently with many companions to work in the direction of our habitat and panorama objectives.  This month, we shine a light-weight on one in all our accomplice’s packages: Pedaling the Whooper Freeway, an effort to boost consciousness on Whooping Crane migratory pathways. Take pleasure in! 

Think about pedaling 2,500 miles by the center of the Nice Plains–following an historic migration of one of many rarest birds on the planet, powered by grit, willpower, and love for a species we nearly misplaced. Proper now, a photographer and an ecologist are doing simply that. 

On Might 11, 2026, Mike Forsberg and Dr. Andy Caven started a 2,500-mile, 50-day bike journey to boost consciousness for whooping crane conservation. The bikers began on the Texas Gulf Coast and can end in central Saskatchewan. Mike and Andy’s purpose is to bodily really feel the space that whooping cranes, together with tons of of different migratory species, journey between nesting and wintering grounds. Our purpose is to uplift the tales, communities, habitats, and wildlife that outline this slender, but essential, hall in order that whooping cranes and different species can endure for generations to return. 

Mike Forsberg is a Nebraska-based conservation photographer and the co-founder of Platte Basin Timelapse. He has devoted the final seven years to telling the story of whooping cranes and his efforts have been made right into a e-book, podcast, and soon-to-be feature-length movie. Dr. Andy Caven is the Worldwide Crane Basis’s Director of Central Flyway Packages. His work focuses on conservation coverage, supply, and analysis relating to whooping cranes, sandhill cranes, and their habitats.

Mike and Andy will pedal into Nebraska and attain the Platte River in early June. If you’re occupied with biking with them, assembly up, or following alongside nearly, comply with us on social media and go to our web site to be taught extra.

“I need everyone to really feel part of a group,” mentioned Forsberg. “These birds have an ideal story to inform. However it’s not simply their story, it’s our story. This journey helps us to inform different individuals’s tales that we are available contact with alongside the way in which and elevate them up.”