In the few quiet moments that are the islands in a steady stream of fun and bustle during the holiday season, I find myself reflecting upon our 2023 accomplishments at Maine Audubon and how they position us for an even more impactful 2024. Our new tagline “your wildlife community” says it all. We achieve success through the incredible community of people who enthusiastically join us in our work.
For our conservation team, 2023 marked the 40th anniversary of our Annual Loon Count, which involves 1,400+ community volunteers counting loons on hundreds of lakes and ponds throughout Maine on a single Saturday in July. Forty years of data has enabled Maine Audubon to lead efforts to address the issues most closely connected to loon population survival, including poisoning from lead tackle and impacts of boating and increased human activity on lakes. Other states and regions have started to connect with Maine Audubon because our efforts have yielded such strong protections—and results—for inland as well as coastal birds, while other states’ efforts are languishing.
Over the past few years, many of those same Loon Count volunteers have worked with us to construct and place nesting rafts on lakes that meet the appropriate screening criteria. It has been absolutely heartwarming to see how many of these rafts have quickly been adopted by breeding loons. During the 40 years of the loon program, Maine’s loon population has doubled. In a world filled with too much bad news, it’s nice to know that a community of committed people can not only stem wildlife population declines, but can actually help a focus (and healthy habitat indicator) species flourish.
For our advocacy team, this year’s long and robust legislative session, combined with implementation of Maine’s Climate Action Plan, has demanded increased attention. We doubled staff so that our expertise on wildlife and wildlife habitat will be brought to all of the emerging areas of focus, to ensure continued and enhanced protection for Maine’s iconic wildlife and places. Our legislative summary speaks for itself in terms of our accomplishments. As with the loon program, we could not have achieved this level of success without the support of our wildlife community. Thank you to all of you who have taken action on behalf of wildlife in response to our Action Alerts.
For our properties team, because of the intense usage of all of our eight sanctuaries by the public since the start of the pandemic, we have also doubled the staff available over the past year to keep up with maintenance of roads, trails, and facilities so that the properties remain accessible while protecting the wildlife these important habitats also serve. We have more than 2000 acres of incredible Maine habitat, so there’s plenty of work to do. We are expanding our cadre of stewardship volunteers, so please consider getting involved.
Finally, our education team is busier than ever. Maine Audubon’s 2023 summer camp programs sold out within two minutes when registration opened in March, and we are currently making plans to increase capacity for these popular programs. We have also increased the number of naturalists on staff to meet growing public engagement with our popular bird walks, plant walks, and other adult programs.
As we keep our programming and operations strong to meet public demand, we are increasing our investment of resources in geographic and demographic areas that are new to us, with a particular emphasis on older children and teenagers who are economically disadvantaged and have fewer opportunities to engage with nature or conservation activities. We are also striving to meet requests of our education and conservation partners for new and expanded programs in Lewiston-Auburn, Greater Bangor, Central Maine, and Washington County.
Thank you to the thousands of people who participated in our programs and supported Maine Audubon in 2023. You amplify our ability to protect Maine’s wildlife and wildlife habitat. Here’s to a successful 2023 and to an even more impactful 2024!
