Keystone Cranes // 30x24" // Acrylic // 2017

One of the lesser known and considered consequences of the Keystone XL Pipeline is its devastating effect on endangered whooping cranes. This species was brought back from the brink of extinction by scientists who built giant puppets to rear chicks and then flew planes to teach them to fly (The movie Fly Away Home is about this effort). The number one cause of death for these cranes, estimated at 329 birds in the wild, is power line strikes. Their flight path follows the pipeline for hundreds of miles through the Midwest.