 Hello everyone. It's really great to see all of you. So definitely some names I recognize, but also a fair number of people that I haven't met yet. So it's really nice to see all of you. Yeah, as Natalie said, we are here to talk about the mainland restoration project, what the project is, how we're engaging like associations and community groups and local volunteers in this work and how you can get involved. And then also a little bit more about how this project came to be. We are going to start with a little introduction to loons because while so we all here we all love loons so so I will be turning it over in just a second. I did want to introduce the co-presenters for today and some of our project partners. This is a, the mainland restoration project is a five year collaboration that started in 2021. And it's a partnership between main auto auto coordinates the project and then we have main lakes and Lakes Environmental Association, the promised got nation. And with close collaboration with the main department inland fisheries and wildlife. So in addition to me at main Audubon, I'm also going to be co-presenting with Ethan daily and autumn door and Oscar Mattis. And James Reddick from main lakes will be popping in at some point. And we also have Maggie Welch on here. And is Rachel on as well. Okay, Rachel Harper is also here from main lakes. So, oh, I'm sorry, from Lakes Environmental Association. Excuse me. Okay, great. So, yeah, so with that, so that this is our team and who you'll be working with if you decide to join this project in some way. Right. And I'll go ahead and turn it over to autumn now to start the presentation about wounds. Thank you. Um, did you share the presentation. Oh, you can see. Oh, yeah, it is supposed to be shared. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Here you go. And go to the next slide. Thank you. That's better. Yes, perfect. Yeah, so I am autumn and I'll start off with a brief natural history about wounds. First, I'll start off what wounds are up to right about now. So right about now, wounds are male wounds are coming back to main lakes. Our main lakes are melting out and icing out. So once the ice is off the lake, the male loons will return and begin setting up their territories. So a territory is just a spot of on the lake that ranges from 20 to 200 acres. So the average loon territory is about 100 acres. And this territory will have hopefully a good amount of fish and habitat for them to nest in. And some things that can happen during this time, loons will be very aggressive over their territories. And as a result, there will be conflict and fights. So for example, this picture right here is of two male loons fighting and these fights can result in injury and even death. So it's not very good for them to happen when we consider maybe putting a raft on a lake is very important to consider territories to make sure that we don't put a raft on the edge of a loons territory that could cause conflicts like these. So during this time they'll do territorial displays, like here this is a penguin dance, which is kind of like a display of toughness and fitness to other loons on the lake. And then once they have set up the territories the female loons will come. Okay, next slide. Okay, so here is a picture of a loon that is doven under the water. And as you can tell loons are very well adapted for hunting and swimming underwater loons, their primary source of food is fish so they have to hunt underwater using their eyesight to catch their food. But clear water is very important for loons. You can tell that loons are a super unique bird, just by their ability and body shape for how well adapted they are for diving. You can see that they have a beautiful teardrop body shape that really helps them swim smoothly through the water. They have very dense and heavy bodies compared to most birds, which then causes them to have some troubles flying compared to other birds. Some things that make them very dense is that their skulls are very heavy, and they have very thick bills and skulls. And this helps them to have kind of a for a weight in the front of their bodies to help them dive underwater. They also have a lot of solid bones when other birds tend to have hollow bones to keep them to make them lighter. And then of course loons feet are positioned way on the back of their bodies as you can see in this picture that really helps them to be excellent swimmers. But unfortunately, these features do have some troubles on land. So we can go to the next slide. So when loons nest, loons prefer to nest right on the edge of a lake or an island on a lake. And this is mostly because they have difficulty walking on land. Loons are a little top heavy, so they tend to, when they walk, they'll do a little scoop with their legs, and then they'll fall onto their chests and then kind of like slowly repeat that again. They're kind of not so graceful on land. And because of that, loons when they are in face a threat of some kind, their instinct is to dive underwater to escape that threat. So when a loon built its nest, it tries to build it right on the edge of the water, like in this picture so that if there is a threat of any kind it can dive into the water to escape the predator. And then loons when they're looking to choose a nest site, they're looking for a nice sheltered area that is kind of out of the eyes of predators. And they're looking for an area that is kind of out of the way of wind, and they generally prefer to nest on islands so that mammals can't walk to their nests. Okay, next slide. Some threats for problems loons run into with their nests. So with their nests being right on the edge of a lake, they can have, if their lake fluctuates in any kind of if it goes up and the water level rises, this can cause some problems such as nest flooding. So this picture here is from the Adirondacks of a loon nest that flooded and the eggs will wash out of the nest. And then another example is maybe the water level goes down. And so then the loons, which have trouble walking on land, have to kind of scoot to the nest for and make these little drag marks. And that means that they have to spend a lot more energy getting to and from the nest, and it's more difficult for them to run away from predators. So fluctuations in the water level could be caused from maybe a dam management, or a drought, or kind of a flood. But another fluctuation in water levels is also caused from boat wakes or waves from wind. And these waves can wash nests. So we use generally a raft to if there's like an asset have been struggling for a while. But rafts can only address most of the problems with water level fluctuations. But this picture down below is of a very large boat right wake. And you can see here, this metal cage is part of one of our rafts and you can tell that unfortunately this week is too much for this raft. And the nest didn't do very well. Okay, next slide. Thank you. And then so some disturbance problems with nest. So loons nesting on our lakes and main lakes tend to be kind of a busy spot. It's where everybody wants to be in the summer. And unfortunately this can cause some disturbance problems in these pictures are showing a very stressed and scared loon. So either knowingly will go too close to a loon to get a better look in their boats, or not knowingly because loons tend to hide their nests. And they don't even know that they're close to a loon. But it's good to give loons a good distance. These pictures so a loon and like a stressed position, they tend to get very low to the ground hoping that you won't see them. And they're kind of on the edge ready to hop off their nest at any moment. And with the disturbances it causes loons to hop off their nest more frequently and leave those eggs exposed to predators. Okay, next slide. Another disturbance that we might not all think about is kayaking and canoeing. I think that a kayaker canoe is a little quieter, a little more peaceful, and you can get around more silently with it, but kind of the opposite is true though. You can get in kayaks. Kayakers tend to be able to go in that shallower water and areas where loons nest, and they can get a lot closer than they should, which can cause a lot of disturbances to the loons and make them very stressed. So this here is a picture in the Adirondacks of some kayakers getting way too close to a loon and probably causing it a lot to stress. Okay. Next slide. And then some other threats that loons face while they're nesting is different types of predators. So a natural and unnatural. So an unnatural predator, but maybe be your dog, just getting curious, wanting to see the loon scaring it off the nest, maybe accidentally stepping on his eggs. So as somebody on a lake, it's always good to keep in mind where your dog is and make sure that it doesn't get too friendly or scare away any loons of my kind. And then there's also other predators. So eagles as loon and eagle populations go up. There has been a lot more threats from eagles. Eagles will try and land on loons to eat either the adults or chicks. And when loons nest on islands to avoid most predators, eagles still can get to them. So predators that are mostly on land are minks, skunks, raccoons, possums, and a bear. Bears, we haven't had any recorded incidences of them in Maine, but this is a picture of them in the Adirondacks. So it is a possibility. But pretty much these mammals will try and get up to the nest and eat the loon eggs and maybe a chick. Next. And then so another threat to loons is habitat loss. So for example, a pair of loons might return back to their place in Maine on the lake and then they might find that there's no longer a spot for them to nest there because some people have built a home. Our lakes in Maine are getting more and more popular because they are a beautiful place to be. But that means unfortunately that there's less and less natural habitat along these shores for the loons to use to nest in. And with that there's less vegetation and trees for cover for these loons. So here are some pictures of loons using people's front yards and beaches and docks to sit and nest in. Okay, and then next, okay, and next I will hand it over to Oscar. All right. Thank you, Adam, for that. There are actually even more threats that loon can face loons can face. It's important to look at loons parenting strategies and how some of those strategies can kind of make them vulnerable. Loons in general are really all in on parenting. They usually just have one chick per broods, one chick per season. Sometimes two, very, very rarely three. So the majority of the time the parents are putting all of their energy, all of their time into just one chick, about three months of very constant care. And in the first few weeks of them caring for them, you can see sometimes they'll carry this chick on their back to protect them from predators. It's very cute, honestly. Next slide. And those chicks do start off small, but they do grow pretty big. Like Adam said, loons are heavy birds. And that takes a lot of fish. And that means that not long after the loon has hatched, the parents have to spend almost all of their time out on the water fishing. And that means that they can't really afford to stop looking for fish and hunting just because a boat or a weight border or a jet ski goes by. And that can make them pretty vulnerable and susceptible to boat strikes. The number of boat strikes that we're seeing is actually going up next slide. Yeah, so Autumn did touch on some of the disturbance issues that loons can face when they're on their nests on the shoreline. But like I said, while they're out on the open water, they're at a serious risk too. We do think that boat strikes are passing lead poisoning as the leading cause of adult loon mortality. There are some laws in place to help mitigate this. There's no wake law within 200 feet of shore or an island on all lakes. And there's a law in the works to change that to 300 feet, but we can get into where that is later. And it's not just giant speed boats that cause an issue. Small personal water crafts like jet skis can also harm loons both through these direct collisions, boat strikes, but also because they're able to get into smaller coves and harass the loons even unintentionally and really disturb them. It is illegal to harass the loons. It's not always intentional, but when it does become intentional is if a loon starts to swim away from you on your boat, just don't follow it and then you should be okay. Another thing that boats can do is even if they don't hit or even really disturb the loon parent themselves, they can cut right between a loon chick and their parent and separate them. And those chicks are fully reliant on their parents at the start. And that leaves the chicks unable to eat and also very vulnerable to predators because they don't have mom or dad there to bite them off. Next slide. Yeah. And like I said, boat strikes are surpassing lead poisoning potentially, but we do still know that for many, many years, lead poisoning was the number one cause of adult mortality. When we do find a dead loon, or another organization finds a dead loon, they're able to do an acropsy to figure out what it was. And oftentimes we do find lead fishing tackle in either their stomachs or their gizzards. And part of this is because loons need to swallow stones to aid in digestion. So if they're looking at a muddy lake bottom and they see a lead sinker, they'll hunt that out and swallow it and then it'll sit in an organ designed for digestion instead of passing through and the lead toxins can just build and build. In addition to lead, there are also issues with monofilament entanglement. Yeah, we're working to help mitigate this and yeah, he's in can get into that in just a bit. Next slide. So that was a pretty quick overview of a lot of the threats that loons face on their breeding habitat. But that is only a small amount of their life history. They spend a lot of their time out on the open ocean. In our part of the world in the Northeast specifically, our loons are really short distance migrants. So a lot of the loons that breed in Maine, also winter off the main coast. And we can see there's a graphic here from BRI. So that's the Biodiversity Research Institute based out of Maine, where all of these circles on here are loons that they banded and all the triangles are where they recovered those loons. And you can see it's really not all that far. Most of the loons that breed here stay in New England. Some of the ones in MDI only travel a mile or two to get back into the ocean in the winter time. So when talking about how to mitigate threats, we need to also be thinking about the amount of time that loons spend out on the ocean. So they're susceptible to boat strikes like they are in lakes, but there are some unique threats to being out on the ocean. One of which, a pretty big one is oil spills. And one oil spill in particular is why we're all here today. On April 27, 2003, there was a barge called the B120 barge from the company Bouchard. It hit a rock that tore a 12-foot hole in the hull, and that spilled out about 98,000 gallons of oil into Bouchard's Bay, so in Maryland and Rhode Island. This affected hundreds of miles of shoreline, so that was beaches, rocky coast, shellfish beds, salt marshes, all just completely covered. Next slide. And this had a pretty enormous impact on loons and water birds in general. There were 479 dead birds collected and representing over 30 different species of water birds. There are 76 loons that were found dead and 128 live oiled loons collected, but unfortunately only nine of these survived. The estimates are around 531 loons that died from this, and we know that we only collected a small amount of the total birds killed and that a lot of them could have been washed out to sea. So this had a huge impact on the population, not just from the loons that died, but also, if you think about it, those loons can never go on to have more chicks. So it has multiple generations of effect from this one oil spill, and like I said, these are short distance migrants, so we know that the loons that were here in Buzzards Bay are largely loons that breed on lakes in New Hampshire, Vermont, and here in Maine. Next slide. So the one good thing to come out of this is that then 18 years later, there was finally a settlement between the responsible party and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. And that settlement money was then distributed by the Fish and Wildlife Service in the form of grants to try and rebuild loon lives lost so to make up for that loss of population. And most of those grants are going to conservation organizations like us. There's also the Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation based out of New York, the Vermont Center for Eco Studies, the Loon Preservation Committee in New Hampshire, and then BRI, the Biodiversity Research Institute. Most of these organizations are doing loon rafts primarily, BRI is also doing some interesting stuff with translocating loon chicks to Massachusetts to try and rebuild the historic range. But yeah, it's this oil spill that funded this project, and then I can pass it over to Tracy to tell us a little bit more about it. Yeah. Wonderful. Well, thank you, Oscar. I'll switch the slide here. Okay, yeah, so thanks to Autumn and Oscar for going over some of the unique features of loons and how some of those features make them vulnerable to various threats. I get to talk a little bit about how we're working to try to address those threats. And also, as Oscar said, restore some of the loon lives that were lost to the oil spill. So, I'm going to introduce the mainland restoration project. And we were funded in 2021, and we're now in our fourth year of the project. And what we're trying to accomplish in these five years is increasing productivity of loons and decreasing the number of loon deaths on main lakes and ponds. And we're breaking that up and approaching that by engaging local participants, lake associations, volunteers, you know, people like you who are on this, on this webinar in a few different efforts. So one to increase nesting success. We are placing loon nesting rafts. I think you saw one that Autumn had shown a picture of. But for pairs that are struggling to hatch chicks, we are placing some of these nesting rafts to try to give them opportunities to nest more, more productively. We are also expanding our fish lead free efforts. So we've been trying to reduce lead tackle use and loon ingestion of tackle for quite some time. But this, this grant is allowing us to expand that opportunity. And we've also launched a look out for loons program. So James Redock is on this call. And he is coordinating the look out for loons program, which is an out in an effort to provide outreach that will reduce nest disturbance. Reduce both strikes with loons and also to reduce the nest flooding from boatwakes. So there are very, very opportunities to try to raise awareness and help us better coexist with loons. So, yeah, and here is the, our partners are at the bottom here. When I mentioned at the beginning, but with main lakes, lakes, environmental association, main lakes, and also got nation and with a close association with main department inland fisheries and wildlife. Okay, so I'm here to talk about one part of the program that we call the loon nesting raft program or the raft program. And the nesting platforms like this that you see in this picture. This is one of the rafts from our project. These are one of the primary ways we're working to increase nesting success. So here you can see this is one of our raft designs. It was actually designed by a Portland family to try to create a lighter raft than the cedar ones we use traditionally. And you can tell it's working here. We've got one chick here and there's another parent really close by, and there's one egg still on the nest. So you can see that, you know, rafts can be a really useful tool in helping loons hatch chicks. So with this being the, well, that we're planning to place about 100 rafts over over these five years and this is our fourth year of the program. So at this point, what we're looking to do is to place rafts on lakes and ponds where there are lake associations or individuals who are able to maintain and monitor the raft themselves in future years. So in this year next year, we can provide training and support. But I want to try to engage people who are able to continue this on for the long term. So some of the other projects that I mentioned under this, under this program are statewide, but this particular one the loon nesting raft program is focusing on working with volunteers in 11 different counties. We do occasionally work in some other areas. The main reason for that is there are some other people in Maine who are well just in Maine who are working to place rafts in other areas. So the biodiversity research institute got a grant as well under the same oil spill funding to work with tribes in down east and northern Maine. We work in the Mount Desert Island area. We work. There's a Somes-Mainel sanctuary, Somes-Mainel sanctuary, and they have a great raft program, very productive. And then over in more western Maine, a little bit into central, there's something called loon conservation associates led by le addicts and he's helping citizens put out nesting rafts. So let's see. Just to give you some examples of what our nesting rafts look like, rafts can be made out of a bunch of different things and they can look a lot of different ways. We have chosen two different designs. So the classic cedar log design that's been used for 50 odd years, even more than that. And then this newer design designed by Reed Robinson and Laura Robinson to create a more modular design that can be disassembled to make it lighter to take in and out. Yeah, other, let's see. They have various features in addition to what they're actually made that the bases are made out of. Some will have avian guards like this, like here. Or others will be open, but all of them will have some way to produce some kind of shade or visual barrier. So in this case, the tall plants are providing some shade and some visual barriers. In this case, we put some bows over an avian guard and avian guard is for use in a place where there are a lot of eagle or gull pressure to take eggs. And we can put these on to just to deter those predators from the air. We don't put them on usually on the first year or until the loons take to the raft, just because there's some speculation that it might make them less likely to nest on the raft if it has an avian guard. But once they're established, they're fine to use it. Also, some rafts will have these wave guards. So if there is, we usually put them in a protected non-wavy spot, but if there is some threat of wake or waves, we can put guards like this up to block some of the waves. Okay, and then, yeah, we usually float them so that they're pretty low to the water. So here you can see that it's only about an inch to four inches from the water level. Okay, so those are some good examples of what a raft looks like. What we're really trying to achieve with a nesting raft is to make it as much as possible like a natural nest. So you can compare with these two pictures, the two different nests, the natural one versus versus the other and there's some similar features. So a nest bowl, they have some vegetation surrounding them, and a pretty easy on or off. So a raft in this case, though, is that it can rise and fall with some of the threats that Autumn was talking about with wakes or with dam management and other and when it rains and they're like level rises, or when there's drought. So if as long as your anchor lines are slack enough, rafts can really take some of that rise and fall that would normally flood a natural nest. And then you can get, they can get the loon pair away from predators and onshore recreational activity. And so it can reduce disturbance and predation. They're not flawless with predation because there are things like raccoons can swim pretty well. And so we'll try to get them further offshore if there are raccoons nearby. So really try to achieve placing them well within the loons territory. You saw some of the disputes and territorial disputes that can happen when, when there's a raft or a nest when they're, when they're really trying to fight for a territory. So if you put the raft well within a loons territory you're less likely to attract another pair and invite competition. I already mentioned the easy on easy off so we kind of make it so it's not too high for them to get on and off and in a pretty low disturbance area so that's what we're looking for in a raft. We've done with our program so far in 2023 we put out 30 new rafts in addition to relaunching 27 that we put out the prior year, and we accomplished hatching 17 chicks from those rafts, and 10 of those survived. It's a little bit lower survival than the year before, tough year for various reasons. But yeah quite a, it helped a lot with hatching chicks and keep in mind these are pairs that haven't hatched chicks sometimes for decades. And we put a raft out there and now they've been hatching chicks, where they have not been able to in the past. So, you know, so why don't we put these out everywhere I mentioned that we're putting these out in about in 99 territories, over five years. So, why aren't we putting them everywhere, how do we decide which pairs get a raft. You know, rafts have been helping to hatch chicks for a long time can be a really useful tool, especially for pairs that have difficulty producing chicks. And they can be a really good way to address some of the threats that we went over earlier. And that's only the case. It only holds true if they're used in the right situations the right locations, and with the right pairs. So rafts come with risks and they can actually hurt a lens pairs chances of hatching chicks successfully. So it's a very bad idea to just throw a raft out there without understanding more about the pairs history and the dynamics of that of the lake. And here's why. So rafts do come with significant risks, you know that coincides with their, their benefits. So if you choose well they can be beneficial if you don't, you can have some of the things that you're seeing here that rafts can make the nest more visible to avian predators. So if eagles and gulls are really a strong presence on your, and they affect hatching, you probably a raft isn't your best solution, we can use them on lakes that have eagles, because they can address other threats. But if that's your only problem if eagle predation or gold predation is your only problem, you probably don't want to raft for that. And then I mentioned that if raster place too close to another loon loon pairs territory, it can attract attention from a neighboring loon and can end up in these fights and can't even lead to death so that yeah that reduces the chances for over the long haul for that pair to produce. And rafts can sink and flood and they can break loose, they can float into another pairs territory. So they really do take some, some careful maintenance and careful design. Other animals can use them, especially we think about geese because they nest just a little bit earlier than loons, and they can take over rafts. So, so we can, you know, lose the opportunity for the loons to use them. And let's see it. And while we, yeah this last photo here you've seen already. This is a raft that was put out, not by us but by a group on Kees or Lake. And while they help a lot, rest up a lot with wave waves and wakes, there are limits. And so on this, this particular raft the eggs did wash out in this case when there was a wake boat that went by. And the take home message is that things can and do go wrong with rafts, and they shouldn't be just put out anywhere without a lot of consideration. And so we're here to help with that for anyone who is interested in a raft and think you have a good candidate. There's definitely a way, a way around some of those issues that can arise. So, so you can think about putting in a raft, especially if it meets these four criteria that I'm going to go over so one if there's continual nest failure so if the pair tries to nest every year, and if they fail to hatch chicks, then that's probably, especially if it's at least three years that they failed to hatch chicks in a row, then that may be an opportunity to put out a raft to help them. But keep in mind that loons don't nest successfully every year, and that's okay. So it's really when we get to multiple years where you want to start thinking a raft could help. I'll go over this a little bit more but you know, rafts can really only address certain problems. And the other thing is there needs to be a suitable location. And so we what we look for is a place that's in a protected area away from predominant winds and waves, not in a place where there's a lot of boatwaker or disturbance, and also some physical conditions, like there has to be enough water so that the raft can float and they don't have to go across land to get to the raft. And then there has to, we usually try to put it about 10 to 50 feet offshore. 10 feet if you have some people in there who are angling or we don't want people going in between the raft and the shoreline that can disturb nesting. But if, if you have predators that you're worried about you might want to go closer to the 50 foot distance. Okay, and then the last part that we look for and determine if it's suitable for raft is really the dedication of people who are willing to help with this. And as I mentioned, we only have this year and next year left of this project. So we want to be able to work with you to be able to train you and give you materials and get you all equipped so that you're ready to carry this on on your own, and that the commitments there. Okay, so if all those apply, if you can say yes to each and every one of those, then you're probably a good candidate for a nesting raft. And I just wanted to quickly just show some pictures of the, of the types of threats that rafts are really good at addressing to emphasize those so they are really good at addressing land based predators and water level changes. And they also are helpful in addressing shoreline disturbance so if you just got that raft a little ways offshore here, it could really help nesting, even if it's a fairly busy area. It's a lot less intense than all of this beach traffic and habitat loss. So, there, there can just be some optimal habitat if there's development or if there are changes along the lake shore and rafts provide that habitat. The last thing to consider before you jump into a raft is consider if there are other actions that could accomplish some of the same ends, and by addressing some of these threats that women's face. So, could you do outreach to lake users and maybe that would reduce enough of the disturbance so that they could nest successfully, or is mortality from lead tackle is that more of a problem. A raft couldn't really help with that. So what's next if you're interested, I'd say first, you would soon get in touch with either us at loon restoration at main Audubon.org, or if you are in the Bridgeton area in the service area for the lakes environmental association. You can email Maggie at main lakes.org. And then we do have several webinars coming up. So in addition to putting a raft out. It's important to monitor it to see if there's nesting success to see if the raft is being used to see if there are any problems with the raft. So we do have webinars on April 2 at noon and at five. And we'll be also posting a recording of that one on our website on the project website so that if you miss it, you could still get some of that training. And then we would love to schedule a call between you and your group so that we can see about getting a raft in and to see if you're a good candidate for the raft. Then from mid April to mid May, you could work with us to deploy a raft. And we would bring all of the raft materials with us. We asked for a very little contribution from you and which includes two cinder blocks for anchors and then some cedar or pine boughs so not much that we ask from you. And then monitoring throughout April to July weekly monitoring submitting data, and we'll also be doing check ins with staff. And then we ask in August through fall that you continue monitoring, as long as you can, and at least until the chicks leave the lake or are at least six weeks old. That's when we consider them probably likely to survive. In the fall zone will also work to retrieve the raft and store it over the winter. Okay. So, I mentioned that monitoring is a really important piece. So, though, there are those online trainings. We also will come on site to help you, you learn our monitoring system. And here is a paper form that we have so that as you're out there on the lake, you can be looking at that the sheet and making your observations of loons and documenting what you see. We also have resources like this is the laminated sheet that will help you to answer the questions that are on the survey form. And in addition to the paper form we also have an online data entry option. And here, and we'll be putting some of these links in the chat, but, and you can also find them on our website. But you can go to this and also enter online and Maggie had a Maggie Welch had a big part in creating this online data form so big thank you. And then just some resources that we have so there's a raft guide. And there's a video that you can get to so here's the video, and it goes through the different types of rafts and what when they're appropriate to use and how you can choose an appropriate location. And then some other resources in general are just on the project website that I've been mentioning, and this is the URL for the project website. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to to Ethan, and I think James will probably James radical probably also chime in at some point. So, thanks so much. Yeah. Thank you Tracy so yeah, all the organizations involved in the main lunar restoration project are involved to some degree in advocacy and outreach on behalf of loons and one program that we're very proud of is the look out for Loons which is our nest protection and outreach program. And the main point of this program is to engage community members in loon protection with the main two goals being to decrease nest disturbance and reduce loon deaths from both strikes and lead tackle. And the way they do this is by providing training and support for local participants to distribute outreach materials conduct presentations. To help lake users reduce disturbance on nesting loons sites, whether that be in a kayak and a wake boat, whatever that may be. And main lakes heads up to look out for Loons project and at this point I'd like to invite James right icon to introduce myself if you'd like to just say what he does with the project. Hi Nathan. Hello everybody I see a couple of names of people that I've worked with in past years. Last year was our first year of officially launching the look out for Loons program. And we have a growing group of what I like to call ambassadors that are out on mains lakes and ponds, helping really spread the word about what can be done to help decrease disturbance and increase the likelihood of a successful nesting season. I don't know about you guys but sometimes it seems like there's just a lot of bad news about what's going on in the natural world. And if you've ever asked yourself, what can I do? Is it hopeless? Is there something I can do to help? Well guess what? This is a project which might be for you. There are lots of ways that we can educate you on how you can help get the word out to fellow lake users. So if you're interested, please get in touch with us. I think Ethan you're going to put up a post an email that people can reach out to me or you'll hear about some webinars that we have coming up in early April that you can participate in. Hope to see you then. Yeah, thank you James. That was a great message and yeah we'll be putting up the way to get in contact with the look out for Loons program. But yeah, next slide. Yeah, and just to go over some of the outreach materials that look out for Loons does distribute. The first pamphlet that they distribute is how close is too close. And this is really emphasizing nest disturbance. So autumn talked a lot about the behaviors that stressed or concerned Loons show. And this pamphlet talks a lot about that, you know, that position where they're hunched over their nests, freaking out. It educates you on how to tell when a loon is concerned or stress. And by knowing how a loon is behaving, it helps you change your behaviors so that you're not causing any more aggravation on Loons. So that pamphlets really about how to not disturb Loons and how to not contribute to any failed nest attempts. And the next pamphlet is called Living in Loon Territory and this pamphlet provides info about activities that can be taken to reduce impacts to Loons. It talks about Loons safety laws and a calendar of what Loons are up to at different times of the year. And just to talk about some of those laws, one of the biggest impacts on Loons at this point that Oscar talked about is wakeboats. It talks about, this pamphlet talks about the different wakebo laws. Currently, the rules are to go no more than headway speed within 200 feet of shore or islands. And that's a big thing to emphasize islands because Loons love nesting on islands too. We're finding that it's more safe for wakeboats to be 500 feet off of shore, but we're still trying. There are other people in Maine Audubon working on advocating for that law. But at this point, that's the law. And so it talks a lot about the different laws that boat users, specifically wakeboat users have to follow. And that's because wakeboats are heavy boughs that create a large surfable wake and they really churn up the bottom of the lake, creating turbidity and just disturbing the wildlife in the area. And so that pamphlet talks a lot about how to live in Loon Territory and how to keep a safe environment for Loons. So yeah, next slide. And going off of that, Lookout for Loons is hosting a couple of programs soon on Wednesday, April 10th. They'll be hosting two programs, 12 to 1 and 5 to 6 p.m. And these can be found at the Maine Audubon Loon Restoration Project link that I sent in the chat. But this is a free online event that's just an introduction to the Lookout for Loons program. And yeah, it can, it's the gateway to getting involved with the program. And the second program will be offered on Thursday, or the third program, sorry, will be offered on Thursday, April 11th from 5 to 6. And this is a refresher training for past participants. So James said, you recognize some of your names. That's great. That would be a great program for you to attend. So yeah. Ethan, if I can just add if for some reason those dates don't work, don't hesitate to reach out to me. We can find alternate ways to get you up to speed. Especially if you're a returning person, we will be recording these. So you'll see my email address later in this presentation. You can always feel free to reach out to me. Yeah, great. Yeah, next slide. And this side's all about signs. So, look out for Loon. The Lookout for Loons program will help place nesting signs where appropriate. Our current thoughts and thinking on nesting signs is that sometimes they make Loon nest more visible and actually attract more attention. And so we have very specific criteria for where we want a nesting sign to be placed. And those are listed on this slide right here. So is the nest highly visible or in a heavily trafficked area where, regardless of the sign being there, people are going to see the nest. If that's the case, then it might be good to have a sign there. If the nest is being disturbed constantly would be good to have a sign there. If the sign is not in the way, or if the, sorry, if the nest is, if the, if the sign won't be in the way, that's another criteria is to have. Then it would be a good spot for a sign to be. And if we have the landowner's permission, because sometimes we're not allowed to put these signs here. But yeah, this is the policy on nesting signs and this is actually a really effective means of protecting Loon populations and at the Northeast Loon Study working group conference that just took place a couple weeks ago, states like Vermont and New Hampshire reported a lot of success and positive correlation between growing Loon populations and having nesting signs available. So this is a really great program as well and feel free to reach out to the Lookout for Loons program on how to get involved here too. Next slide. Yeah, another program that we're really proud of here at Maintain Audubon is the fish lead free program. So this is all about making sure that when we're fishing on our main lakes and ponds that we're not using lead to bait and tackle an update but lead tackle anymore. And yeah, this program's been around for a bit and the goal project is to of the project is to reduce Loon deaths from lead tackle. And the way we do that is through tackle exchange so exchanging lead tackle for non lead tackle lead free tackle and then another way is collection bins at the top right of this slide you'll see some PVC piping. And we can set you up with some PVC piping and these collection bins can be just posted at docs or entry points for boaters and anglers and it's just a means of dropping lead tackle in those PVC pipes getting rid of it. And then the third way we do this through tackle buyback which I'm going to talk about later in this presentation. Excellent. And but before I do that I just want to talk about why fishing lead free is important. In a presentation done by an intern with the RI in 2020, they found that lead poisoning in loons was actually the leading cause of death for 26 years between 1990 and 2016, which is a big stat, I mean, a lot. Every time the loon was dying, not every time but lead was a leading cause of death in loons. Over time that's decreased. As Oscar mentioned, the balance is sort of shifting lead with our advocacy for fishing lead free lead related deaths are going down, but other things that are going up or trauma from a bunch of different things one of which being boaters. But lead is still right up there as a leasing as a leading cause of death so we have a long way to go. Another reason why we should officially lead free another reason is that loons are a bio indicator of the environmental health of our lake and pond environments so they're really indicating the health of all the species around them whether that be fish other types of birds plants. And so the more deaths we see in loons whether that be from lead or other causes. And the less healthy the environment around them is it's an indicator of that so it's important that we keep trying to reduce deaths, especially from lead and then the third reason why to fish lead freeze that wounds experience really terrible symptoms. Tracy if you could press play on this video. This is a video that would, this is a video of a loon that was poisoned by lead. And yeah, it's alright if it doesn't play. Yeah, I'm sorry it's not playing. Yeah, it's okay. Basically, in this video the loon really the fact that this video is even taken is crazy because loons would be far away at this point if you were this close but the loon dips its beak into the water doesn't really know what's going on. And this is, this is a symptom of disorientation. It has heavy breathing other symptoms they experience are weakness or paralysis blindness vocal changes wing droop all sorts of things that loons should never experience because there are sacred birds. This is a good video if you could see it very sad. And it's also worth noting that the Sportsman Alliance of Maine used to have a leader in their organization George Smith who was against lead tackle legislation he thought fishing lead free. Why do we do this. But then he actually saw this video and was involved with it and saw the loon in distress, and it completely changed his attitude is this direct experience. It completely changed how he perceived the issue of fishing lead free, and he actually became a stalwart advocate for lead tackle legislation so that's pretty cool story. So yeah. Excellent. So how do we get rid of lead tackle as I mentioned there's a bunch of different ways. One of the ways is tackle exchange. So in 2023 main Audubon hosted 12 exchange events, or attended 12 events in which we held tackle exchanges. And these were anything from ice derbies to sportsman shows to local tackle exchanges. And these are some pictures right here and it basically it was just an opportunity for fishermen to come in return and let tackle and pick up some lead free tackle and return it's a really cool opportunity. And it's really great. So yeah. Another way we do fish lead free is outreach. As I mentioned previously outreach is the name of the game with educating people about these issues and we did that with stickers led lock cards fact sheets event posters and presentations. And we have all those resources and we're just looking for people to give them out to so if you're interested at all and advocating on behalf of this please let us know get in contact with us and in 2023. We distributed nearly 2000 lead lock cards as well as 1500 fish lead free informational fact sheets and 16 posters so we're just trying to get the information out there. Anyway, we can. So, yeah. And finally, our tackle buyback program and so other states have this and it's been pretty successful. And the idea of it is if you go to retailer you can turn in one ounce or more of lead tackle at participating retailers and receive a $10 voucher in return to seemingly buy lead free tackle. It's a good program it's really incentivize incentivizes anglers to turn in there to lead tackle and last year in 2023 74 and a half pounds or an estimated 2600 pieces of lead tackle were collected. And these are just overall statistics 2300 pieces of lead free tackle were distributed through exchange events and buyback programs and a total of $8310 vouchers were distributed to retailers this year so $830 worth of money going into people's pockets just for bringing in lead tackle. So it's a good program. Excellent. And beyond that, our advocacy teams working real hard to make sure that lead tackle never sees the light of day again. And one example of that is bill LD 958 which was enacted on June 20 2023 by the governor, and it will go into effect. In September of 2024 and this law will make the sale of painted jigs within the currently banned size and weight classes illegal for sale. So it will help close a loophole in mains lead tackle laws which allowed for lead paint to still be on jigs. But the jigs themselves not be led. So it's removing that loophole and just getting more lead out of the water which is really great. Our team worked hard from that on that and so sale will be illegal in September of 2024 this year and in a painted lead jigs will be completely legal for use by 2026. So yeah, working on expanding protection. And I think that's all I have so I'll pass it back to you Tracy. Great. Okay. Well, thanks so much everyone. I've been answering some questions, as we've been presenting, but love if anyone wants to raise their hand. Natalie can unmute you and we can also continue to type answers if you would like. I do see one here from you Cindy that I can go ahead and answer now. Well, others are thinking of questions. So, yeah, the wake zone is a huge crowd on our small lake. No restrictions on the size or speed of boats. These folks. Yeah. Okay. So I would be interested to find out how to get at least one buoy. Yeah. Okay. So I can send out there is a number to call at the Bureau of Parks and lands and also a website that I can send you to and it usually has to come from a lake association and you can the association can request additional wake buoys. Or if you don't have any now, then you can request your first one. And I didn't want to mention that while it hasn't gone completely there has been passed in committee. Right now, but there is an addition to the no wake law that it may soon be 300 feet from shore and islands and a depth of 15 feet. So, okay. All right, I see another one. Yeah, Cindy, feel free to raise your hand if you want more information there or if that answers it. Okay, and share more about loon social groups. Yeah, so loons are actually quite social in the non breeding time so the only time that their territorial like that and have those those fights is, is during the breeding period if they're part of a pair. Otherwise, or if they're competing for a territory. Otherwise, they do spend a lot of time socializing and they reinvent some studies of in wintering areas where they forge large social groups and we'll even do some cooperative feeding. So, yeah, it's most of their time is not spent in territorial type behaviors because they're out on the ocean, a long time. And often you'll see groups of it can be in the fall, especially when they're starting to move towards migration can have to 40 loons in a big group. During the breeding season will often be more like, you know, six to 10 or something like that. But yeah, and then they'll just spend their time together often those are ones that are looking for territories to establish a territory. They're also watching other pairs and watching how successful they are at nesting, and then the next year we found that they will be competing for those those territories that were successful the previous year. Yeah, so we often yeah we often think of them as just territorial but there is a fair amount of social behavior. Let's see who makes the decisions about where to place a nesting loon sign on a big like a lake like range lead. Yeah, so we used to not the state used to not support putting out nesting signs, but through this project. They, they've seen some other states where they've had a lot of success with loon nesting signs and so this project they're willing to give it a shot and have us if we decide that there's a pair that meets the criteria for being disturbed or by human intrusion or if they're likely to fail at nesting because of human intrusion then we can think about placing a nesting sign. Let's see, I lost the other part of that. Yeah, and so we would come and help you determine a spot and then the only thing we ask is that you build the base for the floating base. So yeah, it basically I guess the short answer is give either main likes to call or us and we can, we can get a sign for you if it's there's a good location. That would help us with getting some land some permission for putting that sign out. Okay, and then how can we get copies of brochures showing you know the what we call the how closest to close brochure. Give us a call or an email and we can get those out to you, we don't have enough to send out large quantities but up to about 50 per lake we can we could send you. Any other questions or anyone else who wanted to pipe in on any of these that, if you would answer differently or had other information and be. Tracy, you might just remind folks that those brochures, you can get digital versions of those. On site as well. That's great. As we always have limited supplies. Yes, that's great. Thank you, James. Perfect. Yeah, and so all of these are on that. The website here I can, I can go off of my share for a second here. And let's see. And if I can find. If I can get us onto a website and I'll share my screen again so you can see it. See. Yeah, others. Yeah, feel free to fill the space while I'm doing this or how about with someone else bring up the mainland restoration project website and just share your screen. So I'm not floundering around too much. See, do we have any other questions. And then we've got a little bit over. We have a question about the no lead laws and loon in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I just did some quick research can confirm that each of those states have similar really strict laws to main in terms of lead sinkers and jigs. All three of them prohibit the use of lead sinkers and jigs with a total weight of one ounce or less. So, pretty good for those states as well. Thanks Ethan. Okay. Oh yeah so there's the website there. Yeah. And so there are different sections to it where you can scroll down a little and just see that yes so you can find different resources that we've mentioned under all of these tabs. There's a raft guide and video in that raft program one in monitoring you can find your monitoring form and you can also there's a link to the online data form. Yeah the background on the project, some of our webinars that are coming up I mentioned the monitoring webinar that would be in that upcoming program section. So you can register. For those webinars. And then that there's also a link to the lookout for loons program so main lakes maintains the majority of that but we have put a link on to our website is what the project website. Yeah and there's the brochure that James was mentioning with cool animation. Am I missing any other questions. No question are there speed limits for boats or jet skis. Just the. I think there are individual speed limits, but overall it's just the no wake zone laws that within. Now it's 200 feet of shore or islands that you have to go headway speed. So not fast enough to create a wake. Yeah, so otherwise I believe it's only you know marked areas and then and then individual speeds. Anyone know it differently on. And yeah, who regulates the speeds. So when you get permission to get a swim buoy that also has some restrictions on people using the area but yeah in general it's that no wake law. And then can someone watch this zoom. So within a few days we should be able to get a YouTube link up on the website and we'll try to email those out to anyone who's on the on these webinars. There was a question about the impact of fireworks on lose Tracy do you have any insight into that. Yeah, so that's been, we did have a bill in not us but the main groups in general had a bill in. A few years ago now maybe four years ago. And the main issue is that it's, there hasn't been much documentation of problems that fireworks have caused like we do we do know that loud noises and disturbance can affect nesting productivity but because this is that this is a great, not often a time when people are taking photos. There's just so little documentation of how fireworks are affecting Lou and so I would say, yeah, if you can get game cameras out. We'd love to know more, but you know everyone suspects that there are some and there is some anecdotal information about wounds that were on the nest and then the day after the fourth of July, no longer on the nest and the nest was abandoned. But yeah, as for evidence that would actually pass any kind of bill around fireworks we just don't have it or relying on you out there to help us know what the impact is. Yeah, super hard to see I see that to see here, but he had a group of over 100 loon stop by on a, wow on a snowy day that's amazing. Oh, so you have a link there. All right, let's see if we can. Can we get to that. I don't know if we can get to that with that URL. I don't think so, but I think that'd be awesome if you could email that to us. Yeah, but the email. Thanks Sarah that's amazing to see that many. Yeah. Well, thank you more shoreline distance for wake boats. Yeah generated enhanced waves, even if wakes, the boats are passing 200 feet. They produce a 13 inch high wake sometimes even more than that, that can in and data loon nest. Yeah, so the most of the research is showing that when a boat is using wake enhancing equipment that 500 feet is about the minimum to to not affect shoreline property and the nesting. So yeah so you're right we do need to keep advocating for more. Thank you so much everyone if you have more questions you please get in touch with with us with with James Reddock and with Maggie. And we really appreciate all of your support and looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much. Take care everyone.