Big anniversaries deserve to be celebrated in style. That's why we are very excited to announce that for our 2023 keynote speaker, we will be hosting a speaker from an organization that is also celebrating a hallmark anniversary. The International Crane Foundation is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, and we are pleased to announce that ICF Co-Founder Dr. George Archibald will be the keynote speaker at this year's Monte Vista Crane Festival. 

We hope you will join us to listen as Dr. Archibald reflects on the successes, failures, and lessons learned from 50 years of crane conservation. George will share stories of the innovative and exciting ways we can work together over the next 50 years to save cranes, ourselves, and our world.

In 1973, when cranes were in a perilous situation and many were on the brink of extinction, George Archibald, along with fellow graduate student Ron Sauey, established the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin as the world center for the study and preservation of cranes. His dream was to save the world’s cranes and that notion has been his driving force ever since. Dr. Archibald’s visionary leadership in international conservation over the last fifty years has given flight to extraordinary grassroots recovery efforts across the globe.

Dr. Archibald established the International Crane Foundation with little more than youthful enthusiasm and exceptional talent. Early on, he pioneered innovative breeding techniques that allowed many rare crane species to reproduce in captivity for the first time. He forged scientific exchanges and field conservation programs in the 1970s with Chinese and Russian biologists in an era when it was a rare occurrence for a western scientist. Under his leadership, the International Crane Foundation grew into a highly respected organization, successfully promoting crane and habitat conservation around the world.