 Great. Um, can everybody hear me? Okay. Good. Thank you so much for coming. My name is Olivia Scott. I am one of the biologists on the main moon restoration project. Does everyone introduce themselves. Hi, I'm Tony. One of the other biologists on the restoration project. And my name is David. I'm also one of the wildlife biologists on the moon restoration crew. My name is James Reddick. And I'm the lookout for loons project manager for the 2023 nesting season. Great. Well, let's get started. So the main loon restoration project is a five year project funded from an oil spill that occurred off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 2003. Um, we're going to talk a little bit more about that later, but the main goal is to increase loon nesting success and decrease adult loon mortality. The three main methods in which we're using to accomplish to you to accomplish our goals is to place artificial nesting platforms also called rafts bolster the look out for loons program which involves volunteer outreach. And James will go over that more in detail in a bit, and to also expand our fish lead free program to try and prevent preventable deaths by lead poisoning. Okay James take it away. Thanks Olivia. So I'm going to start tonight. I'm talking to you a little bit about the lookout for loons program. As I said I'm the manager for the 2023 nesting season for this program and what I'm going to do is provide you with a quick overview of what the program is, and how you can get involved. If you feel like it's a good fit for you. So let's start with what is the lookout for loons program. It's an education initiative with the goal of increasing people's awareness about how to enjoy lakes and ponds. And it's an independent way that protects these incredible charismatic birds, the common loon. Specifically, we want every lake user to understand that there are simple things that each of us can do to decrease disturbance to increase their nesting productivity throughout the season, and ultimately to reduce loon deaths from boat strikes and other human causes. So we're going to accomplish those goals. Well we're building a team of trained volunteers all across the state that can conduct outreach and education on the lakes where they live or where they recreate. The program is designed to equip these volunteers with the tools and resources they need to do the type of outreach that we're seeking to do the type of education that we're doing things like providing effective individual conversations how do you do that. And answer questions frequently asked questions. There we're also in a position to distribute outreach materials you'll see some copies of those fact I've got one of those nice brochures right here. We have digital versions of those as well. How to place look out for loons signs on high risk late winds that appropriate, and how to direct people there, and also how to conduct presentations to community groups. I work at Maine Audubon and Maine Lakes who I work for get many requests over the course of the summer to talk about loons, and it's more than our small steps can ever cover. And so, having a group of trained people who are in a position to help out with those types of things is what we're trying to do this educational approach is made possible because of years of research biologists like these that are on the call with you tonight have done over the years. And it helps us pinpoint exactly what the leading human driven causes of loon deaths are, you're going to hear more about that from from Tony, not only about the causes but what can be done about it from Tony and David but we know that information that's the bad news, but the good news is, it tells us and helps pinpoint exactly the things that need to be done to reduce these risks. We can get lake users to consistently practice the simple steps that that that also have been identified it'll go a long way toward reducing risk for our loans. And this is where the training for volunteers comes in the lookout for loons program in assets is helping turn people into ambassadors for loons across our across our lakes. And resources will provide training and resources that our volunteers need to help get the word out about loans on their lakes where they live and recreate. The resources include like these brochures that you see here, both print and digital versions of these that help you recognize and help people recognize. When are they observing loans from a safe distance versus when have they gotten a little too close. Unfortunately, too many people think that it's just because alone as they are not flying away that, oh they're comfortable with people when in fact they may be very very stressed, and it may be interfering with nesting or has the potential for doing so so understanding those types of things as part of what we do. We also provide scripts and slide decks for having effective conversations conducting presentations. We also provide tips and tools that people can use. So that's what we're doing with those that are interested in becoming volunteers. So it's a little about the program, how do you get involved. If you're interested in being trained as a lookout for loans volunteer here the steps. We have trainings this week. In fact, I'm putting on one tonight I'll be leaving this call a little early to go and kick off that training. We also have another one this Thursday, and you'll receive a follow up email that has links if you're interested in registering for that train. If that date and time doesn't work for you don't worry. They're actually, there's actually a website that you can go to and review a recording of one of these trainings, you see it here on the screen now at www.lakes.me that'll take you to the loans page, and you can review one of those videos of one of our past trainings. If you're interested, please do that you can also reach out directly to me if you have questions and want to know or want to talk to me about whether it's the right project for you, and you see my address on the slide as well. So, that's a brief overview about the look out for Loons program what it is and how you can get involved. Thanks for your time. Really appreciate your interest and commitment to the Loons of Maine. It's people like you that will really make a difference for them. Thank you James. Okay, I'm going to carry on and talk to you a little bit about loon ecology. So loons are very territorial birds. The males arrive back on main lakes, as soon as ice is out or pretty much then or the day after this occurs in mid March through April depending on where the lake is and depending on the winter. They start establishing territories right away through displays and territorial disputes. Their territory sizes range anywhere from 20 to about 200 acres, but they average about 100 acres. The territories are defended from other loons through these fights. They can often result in extreme injury or death, you can see how brutal their fighting actually is in this picture. One of their territorial displays is called a penguin dance in the upper right image. It is unlikely that there will ever be more loons than a lake can support due to their extremely territorial nature. Loons are amazing divers, they feed mostly on small fish but they can eat fish that are up to 10 inches long, primarily minnows, suckers, perch, gizzard shed, rock cod, kill a fish. Fish such as trout and salmon are harder for them to catch due to the direct nature of their swimming pattern. Loons can dive up to 200 feet and they can stay submerged for up to five minutes. Typical feeding dives however are about one minute long, so much shorter than what they can do. And their feet are located extremely far back on their bodies and they have large feet. You can kind of see in this picture how far back their legs are. And although this makes them amazing swimmers, it makes them very unable to walk on land. To get out of the water they have to raise their bodies and then lurch inch by inch, kind of pushing themselves along the ground, and it takes a lot of effort. They have to help because of this, they have to build their nest very close to the water's edge and pretty much the only time that you'll see a loon on the shore is if they're breeding or incubating. Or if they're sick or injured. But besides that they do not willingly go on land. This, because their nests are located so close to the shore they're able to slip quietly into the water without attracting predators. Nests being on the shore leaves them vulnerable to many threats, especially with how close they are to the water's edge. One of the threats is changing water level. So water level fluctuation due to rainfall or dam management can cause a nest to flood. Additionally, boat wake can also cause a nest to flood. So if a boat is not going headway speed near a shoreline or an island where a loon is nesting, then it is very likely that the nest will flood because it is located, you know, within two feet of the water. Another problem, especially during a dry season would be the nests being stranded. So this upper right photo shows what happens when a loon nest is inaccessible by water because the water level has dropped. You can see the line where it's dragged its body to get back into the water. Nests that are flooded or stranded such as these are often vulnerable to abandonment and eggs that have become submerged in water for too long are also no longer viable. Nests that are right on the shoreline also make them vulnerable to disturbance from lake users, particularly vulnerable while nesting in the early part of nesting because they're more likely to abandon the eggs. Boats that linger near eggs can cause distress knowingly or unknowingly. You can see in this photo on the left of the picture of the person fishing. The loon is so close to the water and almost camouflage that they may not even know that they're there. Two photos of the loon on the nest, so the one on the left and the one on the right side, show that the loon is in extreme distress with its head jutting outright as though it's ready to, you know, slide off the nest at any given moment. Loon parents may leave nests that are in high areas of disturbance which leave the eggs vulnerable to predators or overheating. The eggs can overheat in a very short period of time on very hot summer days. It's also good to note that not only motorized boats can cause problems. So, this is an extreme example from the Adirondacks. In the center you can see the loon and it is completely surrounded by people in kayaks. And although their boats may be silent and they seem calm and peaceful, this loon is actually in high distress. Nesting on the shoreline also makes loons and their eggs vulnerable to predators. Loons have many natural predators of their eggs such as skunks, mink, raccoons especially, and even dogs. Avian predators such as bald eagles will also eat eggs and chicks. Their dependence on the shoreline also makes them vulnerable to threats due to habitat loss. We live and recreate on the lakeshore and we compete with habitat for the loons. As we develop the lakeshore, nests can lose potential sites that were once viable. They can start nesting in sub-optimal habitats such as camp from beaches or even swim rafts such as the photo on the right. Heat is also an increasing issue, especially when their habitat does not have appropriate cover that the shoreline typically would. So on beaches or docks or swim rafts, there's no shrubs or overarching vegetation that would protect them from the heat and the sun. Another important thing to know when you're thinking about loon protection is that they are very devoted parents and they're all in when it comes to parenting. Once the chicks hatch, they are entirely dependent on their parents for about three months and in their first weeks, their parents can keep them warm and protect them by carrying them on their backs. But they also require a ton of feeding and this leaves them vulnerable, sometimes out in the open in the middle of the pond, where they're vulnerable to boat strikes and boats speeding past them and separating them. Loon deaths from boat collisions are on the rise. When we collect dead loons and find out what caused their death, many of those deaths end up being from blunt trauma from boat strikes. In fact, boat strikes may be passing lead poisoning as a leading cause of death in adult loons. The main law states that you have to maintain headway speed within 200 feet of shore or islands, which is very important to prevent nests from flooding. However, loons that are out in the open in the middle of the lake are still vulnerable to being hit by boats. Because loons are fish predators, they're also vulnerable to becoming tangled in fishing lines, such as the photo on the left, or ingesting lead fishing tackle, as seen in this x-ray image. Ingestion or have lost or discarded fishing tackle can cause lead poisoning within two to four weeks of ingesting. The loon will either eat a fish that has a piece of lead tackle or pick up a small lead sinker from the bottom of the pond in order to help them in digestion. Because they swallow fish whole, they require small pebbles in their gizzard to help grind and crush the food. However, this grinding action in the gizzard can actually erode the lead sinker faster, which results in acute toxicosis. Loons migrate from their summer territory to their wintering grounds on the coast. This may be a surprise for some people, but they do spend the entire winter on the coast, and although they face many threats during breeding season, they also face a unique set of threats on the coastline, one of which is oil spills, which I will pass it over to Tony to talk about. Okay, so thank you, Olivia. So, yeah, loons winter on the coast, and we all know that the common loons breed on fresh water on the lakes, but not everyone knows that they migrate in the fall, such early winter to the coast and winter on the ocean. And so that's Olivia stated and so, so that's why it's so important for the reason why this grant is here today and so one particular reasons for the oil spill that occurred in Butchard Bay on April 27, 2003. It spilled 98,000 gallons of oil when it hit a rock and it tore a 12 foot hole in the hull and it affected 100 miles of shoreline and includes beaches, rocky coasts, selfish beds and salt marshes. So for that oil spill, 479 dead birds were collected in over 30 different species of water birds. And in terms of loons, 76 were found dead and 128 oiled loons were collected and more oiled loons were found throughout the summer. And it's estimated that there were actually 531 loon deaths and the number of birds collected is much less than the total number of birds killed and affected by the spill. The loons that were affected were ones that breed in Northern New England, so Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and New York. And it happened in April when possibly still some of the wintering grounds and some juveniles remain on the ocean until the year they're ready to travel to the main lakes to breed. So others who wintered further south and were just passing through could have also been affected. So 10 years later after the spill in 2021, a settlement was reached in the company responsible for the spill. We're had the responsibility of recovering the losses and damages from the spill and so settlement funds were administered as grants through the US Fish and Wildlife Service and some of those grants focused on restoring loons on breed and then thus the main loon restoration project was founded. And also the Adirondack Center for Loom Conservation, Vermont Center of Eco Studies, the Loom Preservation Committee and BRI are also participating in studies with the use of this grant money. And so, as Olivia mentioned before, this is what gave rise to the five year collaboration project led by Maine Audubon, but also in partnership with Maine Lakes, Lakes Environmental Association, the Penobscot Nation, and the Maine Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife. And so the main goals of these project is to engage local volunteers and lake associations in order to one place artificial rafts and monitor the nesting success on the rafts, and fish-led free efforts to reduce lead tackle, the use of it and loon ejection of the lead tackle, and launch in the Lookout for Loons program that James lead in order to reduce nest disturbance, flooding from boat wakes and loon collisions with boats. So the loon raft program. The main way we are working to increase loon productivity, and when I say that I mean the number of tricks that hatch and thrive on Maine Lakes is by working with volunteers and lake associations to place about 100 rafts over five years. And this project isn't statewide. It takes place in mainly 11 counties. And Northern Maine and Down East Maine is covered majority by BRI. And other biologists also help lead this program, including like Lee Addix and Billy Halbrin. And this photo here really depicts just how well a raft can blend into the surrounding scenery if put in the right place. And that is where we are experimenting with this project to see if it can help save the loons. So community science and local participants. So volunteers are trained to do the training and trained in nest protection and outreach. And the participants help Bill deploy and maintain the rafts. The volunteers are a vital part of our project because without the volunteers, this project would not succeed and we rely heavily on our volunteers so we really appreciate everyone who's interested in this project. We want to increase our outreach and where we are currently on the third year of a five year project. And we want to continue to build capacity so the restoration efforts restoration efforts can continue beyond this grant period of five years. So, we've had over 100 participants involved this year. Now we are close over to 150 from all the outreach and hopefully that'll continue to rise. So loon raft examples, we're asking have a lot of different designs and made out of different materials. We have a classic cedar log design and a newer design made out of lobster trap wire and flotation, but some are made of metal and PVC. Some have a type of vegetative cover for shade and camouflage it depends upon like the lake and what threats are present at the lake if it has that camouflage avian guard but we always form some some form of shade. And some have extra boards on the side tacked as wave guards if that area is really impacted by wake boats. So so far. There is one of the chicks hatched from one of our rafts in 2022 is pictured above. And so what happened so far 2021 was our pilot year. So we've had one raft deployed and our project graphs are helping we've seen and so there are 27 rafts in 2022. And they have a very low historic productivity, and each pair was averaging 0.1 checks per year before the rafts, which is basically one chick every 10 years and in order to sustain populations, we need one chick every other year. And so in 2022 the rafts increased productivity by times seven, which is very successful. And they are taking to the rafts more quickly than expected. And we had a third of our rafts use last year. And so this year so far nine rafts are in use today, which is a lower rate compared to last year. We're thinking this delays because of some of the rain and when we've been having. And also we picked up quite a few numbers last year on the second nest attempt so we're excited to see what continues to happen throughout the summer. And so how do we select sites for rafts and when our rafts a good idea. So rafts have been helping lone pairs hatch chicks for half a century and they can be a great tool to help the loons that consistently fail to produce chicks, and can be a great way to address some of the threats that we went over earlier, such as the nest flooding and providing habitat when there's insufficient habitat. And if there's onshore disturbance, all these can really help increase a loon success with fudging a chick. But as we've already saw, rafts are, they may, they take a lot of time to maintain and you want to make sure we have people able to monitor them. And they can only be used in the right situations and locations. And it's important to know that not every loon needs a raft, and there is a wrong way and right way to just put out a raft and this is why it's crucial to work with your local local organizations, in order to first help vet if your lake is the ideal place for one, and then how to properly build one because it's really important to keep us safe and the loons and the wildlife that share that habitat safe. And because especially because rafts can come with risk. And so, sometimes nests can be more visible to avian predators on a rafts. The eagles or gulls are the primary reason that loons aren't hatching on your legs. A raft probably isn't a good solution, because the chicks typically leave the raft after one or two days of hatching. So, if the main reason is because of eagles, it's not really an ideal one threat to put out a raft. Also, rafts can be placed too close to one another. So if you place a raft too close to a separate loon breeding territory, it can attract the tension, attention of a neighbor and loon pair and lead to territorial disputes. And also rafts can sink and flood or break loose and float into other pairs so it's important to make sure to always monitor the raft and make sure it's in good maintenance. And while rafts can float and rise with waterfall, there are limits and sometimes boatwigs can displace the rafts, but that is very rare and we've only had like an instance of one of last summer where a wake overtook a loon raft, but it's still always a possibility. And so the bottom line to know is that this can go wrong and not every loon pair needs a raft so it's important to just make sure to vet out the territory and make sure it's an ideal place for that. And David will pick it up from here to talk more about that. Thank you so much Tony for all your excellent work there. Yeah, like Tony said I'm going to sort of pick up where she left off and talking more about when do the potential benefits outweigh the risks. So, in our program, there are a rather than be a good idea for three situations where they apply to your lake or your situation. And the first thing that we look at is if there is a territorial pair that tries to nest every year and fails to hatch chicks year after year. We have a couple of different metrics used to analyze this. Either we only consider putting out a raft if a pair has failed for at least the last three years consecutively or three out of the five years. So that's sort of how we analyze if a pair is in need of help. Some clues that we use to look for if a pair is struggling. So we look at abandoned nest. If before eggs are hatched and eggs are left in nest. That is an often time aside as an example of loons in trouble. The nest may have been flooded, or predation can be observed so broken eggs, or eggshells floating around can be indicators that they have been eggs have gotten got, as I've been told. In addition, adults can be seen on nest but if there are no chicks present or courtship and nest building is happening but there's no ever chicks developing from that math can be another sign that there is some struggles going on with those territorial pairs. So, the next situation that we tend to look at is low productivity due to a problem that rats can address. As Olivia and Tony mentioned, rafts can only address certain types of problems. So you need to ask yourself, first of all, what is causing that nest failure, and is a raft. A good idea, and a raft could be a good candidate for problems such as the main one we focus on is water level fluctuations. So dams water level management, even heavy rainstorms and droughts, or beavers can oftentimes change the water levels at a lot of the lakes and ponds that we visit. The levels rise and fall and nests can be flooded or stranded. So, floating rafts that can sort of handle those changes in water levels are really great for dealing with any sort of water level fluctuation threats that annual pairs might be experiencing. Additionally, predation from land animals is something that we can address. A raft is a nest that is moved offshore. That a little bit of extra water and something that those animals might have to do to get to that nest and get to those eggs can be a pretty large deterrent and can often prevent raccoons or even dogs from entering and trying to, or from easily getting those eggs. I'm not guaranteed but does help and prevent them from getting it easily. Thirdly, a lack of nesting habitat. So, as Olivia and Tony have mentioned before is that a lot of these areas see a lot of human development on those shorelines. Lakeshore development can reduce prime nesting habitats forcing loon nests forcing loons to nest in poorer sites or not at all. So a raft may be really useful if suitable sites are lost within a loon pairs territory. As was said before shoreline development is generally accompanied by an increase in predators, such as raccoons, seagulls or even corvettes to so an increase in human presence is often attempting to bring those predators as well. And finally, human disturbances human disturbances and development removes potential loon habitats as well. If a loon is regularly regularly disturbed, it may abandon its nest. And if the nest is near a boat landing or other high use areas, a raft can bring that nest offshore away from where land activities may be occurring in a less intrusive and more comfortable area for those loons to nest and be able to raise their young. So, if we keep moving on a little bit. The last and most important situation that we have for our rafts is local commitment and dedication. So, we rely on local local community members to monitor and maintain our rafts throughout the whole season. Raps are serious investment of time, energy and resources and it takes an active management from a network of people to keep them in tip top shape and performing well. And as Olivia mentioned to proper anchoring making sure that we anchor these graphs, so that they don't fall into other loon territories, or get crashed on shore by big waves. Some log graphs can even be left in over winter if there's little risk of ice damaging them. But you kind of have a trade off in that you may need to have more maintenance done on the following year to make sure that it can float properly. Normally they need to be taken out every single year, every single season, every fall and return to the spring. So the result of that we require help from local members to be able to put those out and take them at the end of the season. Vegetation as well may need to be added to create shade, and as well as nest bowls. So one of the problems that Olivia mentioned earlier is that overheating can be a serious problem that a lot of our loons are facing. We have to have things like vegetation of moss side and other other local native plants to give the wraps a more inviting natural feel to them but also to offer protection from overheating as well as a little bit of camouflage like Tony mentioned earlier to keep them hidden away from predators. But that vegetation will have to be re added on either midway through seasons or at the end of a season or the beginning of one to make sure that it is in healthy, robust health. Sorry about twice, but that will make it a viable sort of place for them to live. We also need to be monitored to make sure that they're giving one sec. So when we're monitoring we also ask our monitors to monitor once per week from early spring to the end of August or later when the chicks are around six weeks of age. So without an ongoing commitment your raft could be worse off than no wrap. So in summary, it's important, if all the situation exists for your pair, they may be a good candidate for a raft. However, it is something that we need to note is that if your loons are if loons in your lake are in trouble. If they're not successful every single year that is natural loons don't hatch chicks 100% of the time. So just because they don't have chicks doesn't mean they don't need help but we use those metrics we were talking about earlier to determine if it is something that we could require assistance if it's a consistent problem. So, if we keep going on. One thing also needs to focus on is before we offer a raft out or put a raft in your situation at your site. We have to consider if there are other sort of things that could accomplish the same goals without adding in some of those risks we have talked about prior. So, things like setting up lead collection bins to prevent loons from ingesting by tackle posting signage or outreach to help reduce nest disturbances. To raise awareness about reducing both speeds, as well as awareness about better trash management to discourage scavengers are all great ways that we can help loons without the need for a raft. One more side. So, if we do decide to go with a raft and if a raft is something we have okay for your site, we have developed a wonderful little guide to help those interested in rafts understand when a raft is appropriate, and when the potential benefits outweigh those risks. There's also a video that goes over when a raft is a good idea, the raft building how to put it together, the two types of wrappings in this program, as well as proper wrapped placement and deployment. So, those will also be all those links will include in that follow up email that will send out. So if you have any questions you can always refer to those resources. All right, and one of those resources that we provide is the webinar. So this webinar goes over the again proper monitoring protocols, as well as the. As well as the expectations for monitoring. So what we saying is monitoring expected to be conducted by local volunteers or individuals and Lakes associations, ideally once a week. And the main Autobahn provides the trainings and resources on how to monitor as well as around to site visits over the check ins over the season to ensure that that those standards are being upheld and answer any questions or concerns that may that any volunteers may have. So, there is both a paper form and an online form, two different types of way of entering data, if you are more comfortable one of the other. Both have been pretty simplified and changed from prior years as well too so if you are a returning user we always encourage you to go look at that webinar and see if there's any new changes that could have been made that may need to brush up on. But if you are any other resources as well to you can find those on the main Autobahn website and restoration page, or you can use these behavioral reference sheets that we hand out to our members and volunteers. And they are fabulous resources to give a bunch of different information, mostly talking about to determine if you're seeing a territorial pair how to determine if it is one or is not. So, I'm going from a Downey to a fully fledged chick, what those look like and some more descriptions associated with those, as well as deciphering loom behaviors. So these can go from a range from normal relax to stress and concern behaviors as well too. And it's a really great resource to look at and utilize when you're out on the water. I'm sure that you're not cause if you're noticing any of those concern behaviors to back off and give those in that space that they're asking for. So that again it's one of those fabulous resources to be included. And again that would that link to the webinar will be included in that follow. So as part of this project, we also help place nesting signs out when there is appropriate. And while we say that because science can sometimes off act as a double edged sword, they're great for educating members of the public and letting people know to stay away. However, they can also attract and increase disturbances and decrease that nesting success that we're really hoping for. So we have developed our own criteria for when we place these signs out. So what we're doing is are permissible and those four things are if the nest is visible or in a really high traffic area. If the nest is being disturbed with human activity signs. Signage is not in the way or blocking off any access to any sort of water. And we also have the landowners permission. Like we said earlier we can't really close off or cordon off access to any sort of any any open water stuff too so what we really utilize is the signages to help educate people about loon nesting and how to properly behave about that. So these signs are fantastic they're great because they are made of metal, they won't really be damaged by anything that may come up on the raft. So they're colored with the BPL warning signs for navigable waters. And we also can provide criterias and instructions for floating sign bases. If it's something where a sign would be more effective out on the water itself to. So, one of the new one second I one word little should be able to go into on signs. So, signs at nesting sites historically have not been allowed by main DIF and W, because of concerns that they make mess, mess more visible attract attention. But based on success and other new England states of main DIF and W has been working alongside it up main Audubon to sort of pilot this program through our project. So they have some really interesting data to support these claims, such as floating signs increase nesting success from 50 to 80% on mess that were at risk of failure from human intrusion. That's that was a recent study out of the Vermont school for eco studies. We're also working alongside with volunteers to place those yellow look out for loon signs that James Redock mentioned earlier at boat ramps and kiosks to raise general awareness about when presence on the lake and new DIF and W practices are preventing us from posting these at state boat launches, but private boat launches are still viable to have these added to them as well too. Moving on to another one of our outreach programs that we work alongside is fish lead free. So the goal of this project is also to reduce loon deaths from lead tackle specifically. The way that this project works is hosting lead tackle exchanges, like the ones you can see on in a couple of photos here, and also instructing people on how to build and post 11 fishing line collection bin at your local boat ramp, boat ramp or launch. And so we've done a bunch of these of some of these include things like ice derby sportsman shows and local local tackle buyback exchanges are offered at these locations. So if we continue on. So one of the ways that we can be getting involved with educating the public and so a couple of phrases that we'd like to use around here are fish lead free and spreading the word so educating people with outreach, as well as reeling it in when loons are nearby. So that's a great way to sort of reduce any of these entanglement issues that sometimes we have reports on these incidents of wounds getting caught in fishing lines is a pretty easy way to pretty easy thing to be able to avoid if we're being more conscious when we're fishing and really in and be careful of the wounds around us, as well as, you know, classic things like picking up discarded fishing line and tackle that and think be around, they may see lying around. So I mentioned outreach materials earlier. So go to the next slide. So, some of the outreach materials that we have for fish lead free presentations we can hand out to these like associations, our partners and volunteer networks and even local anglers. These materials can be distributed by staff and volunteers at presentations, tackle exchanges, fishing derbies, community events, association meetings, and even retailers participating in the web tackle buyback program. So that's a great way to let people know what is and isn't acceptable. And if we go to the next slide I'll give you those specifications were straight up so let tackle lead tackle buyback program will buy any will offer vouchers to those that bring in lead tackle, one ounce or less, or two and half ounces, two and a half inches in length or less. So, I myself have run a couple of these. This year already over like things like carry trading posts, where big fishing and hunting spring sale was going on and there were $20 vouchers offered up to any members who came and donated some lead tackle at that too. So, it's a really great program. And in 2022 alone, we pulled that it pulled in 55.5 pounds of lead tackle and issued 142 vouchers for lead free. That's just some of those numbers that we can give you to show you that we actually do really make a huge difference on 55 pounds is a lot is a lot of lead taken out of our waters. And if you're curious about what that might look like and how that's sort of developing fish lead freeze developing in the legislation made Audubon is also working in close partnership with local legislative members to pass laws that can help reducing mortality through lead poisoning. So, for example, the use and sale of small lead tackle sinkers and jigs has been fully banned since 2013 for about 10 years, and that they have seen has reduced mortality by around 57%. So a massive drop off in room mortality for lead related illnesses just fantastic. And while that is helpful. The lead poisoning is still right up there one of those top causes of deaths for loans. And that's typically due to a current loophole that people have been looking to try and address. Excuse me, where painted jigs painted lead headed jigs were still allowed throughout through this new law. So, a new recent law that has just been passed and signed by Governor Mills will make it the sale of painted jigs. Within that currently banded size I mentioned earlier, illegal for sale by 2024 and illegal for use by 2026. So, we're really pushing forward to make sure that we can tackle this problem from all different angles, including legislation. Okay. So, after all of our whole spiel about the overview of our project. If you think your lake is a good candidate for any of these programs, call the organization you would like to work with. And be sure to review those practice webinars and raft packets to see if you have a pair that is candid for those situations. And I encourage you to look and sort of pull together some information about their history and observations that you have seen. So that way when we give you a phone call to get more information about your situation, we can have that information ready at hand. And if your lake is a good candidate for a raft, you'll be invited to have a team member visit your lake, finding a good site to put out the raft as. And usually we do that as soon out after ice out as possible. So just let free for loon rangers call one of the organizations listed above for to start. So, thank you, I believe that is the last bit that we have and I'll hand it back over to Olivia should give you the closing remarks. Hello. Okay, awesome. Thank you so much David sorry we're using numerous computers so it's like little switch game tag. Thank you so much David and Olivia. And now we will open up for a question and answer. And right now I see we have a question from Ed, and he describes how his legs are getting evidence of losing loon chicks to bald eagles is there anything we can do. The primary reason is bald eagles then since the chicks leave the nest after one to two days. We typically don't put wraps out if that's the only threat because we're kind of making like a chick making factory if that makes sense if we put them out. But I think it's super important to vet out the whole area because some of those lakes that you mentioned maybe struggling with like water level fluctuations and eagles, or like human eagles, and so I would say definitely give us an email, an email at the, at the loon restoration at me and Audubon dot org, and we can schedule a lake check in and so we can vet some of those lakes and maybe there is one that would be a great and that'd be awesome because we're trying to add our new lake seal list for the summer of 2024 so we would love to come out and check out those lakes.