The wild cranes winter in marshy areas along the Gulf Coast in and surrounding the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge . An environmental group , The Aransas Project , has sued the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ( TCEQ ) , maintaining that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to ensure adequate water supplies for the birds ' range . The group attributes the deaths of nearly two dozen whooping cranes in the winter of 2008 and 2009 to inadequate flows from the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers . In March 2013 during continuing drought conditions , a federal court ordered TCEQ to develop a habitat protection plan for the crane and to cease issuing permits for waters from the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers . A judge amended the ruling to allow TCEQ to continue issuing permits necessary to protect the public 's health and safety . An appeals court eventually granted a stay in the order during the appeals process . The Guadalupe-Blanco and San Antonio river authorities joined TCEQ in the lawsuit , warning that restricting the use of their waters would have serious effects on the cities of New Braunfels and San Marcos as well as major industrial users along the coast . To address the potential of future crowding that may result from the increasing migratory population , in 2012 and following years , purchases of small plots of land and acquisition of conservation easements covering larger areas has led to the protection of tens of thousands of additional acres of potential coastal habitat near the Aransas reserve . A large purchase of over 17,000 acres in 2014 was paid for with $ 35 million made available from the settlement over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill money and an additional $ 15 million raised by a Texas parks non-profit
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Whooping crane