The Maine Loon Restoration Project aims to increase loon nesting success and decrease loon mortality by engaging volunteers in three efforts:
• Placing artificial nests (rafts) and monitoring nesting success on rafts;
• Expanding Fish Lead Free programs to reduce lead tackle use and loon lead poisoning;
• Launching a Look Out for Loons Program to reduce disturbance to nesting loons and decrease loon mortality through education and outreach, as well as signage at highly disturbed nests. The project engages teams of volunteers all over the state to help with many different education, outreach, and management activities.
Watch a video overview of the Loon Restoration Program (video in YouTube)
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 27, 2003, just south of Westport, Massachusetts, an oil tanker operated by the Bouchard Transportation Company passed on the wrong side of a navigational marker and struck rocks underwater, gouging a 12-foot hole in its hull. In the hours that followed, 98,000 gallons of heavy #6 fuel flowed into Buzzards Bay.
Oil washed up along 100 miles of beaches, rocky shoreline, marshes and tidal flats. 76 loons were found dead and 128 oiled loons collected, of which only 9 survived. More oiled loons continued to be found over the following summer.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimated that 531 Common Loons over-wintering or migrating through the area of the spill died as a result of the spill. Eighteen years after the spill, in 2021, a settlement was reached with the company responsible for the spill through Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Program (NRDAR). The settlement from this spill, announced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on June 16, 2021, has led to funding for restoration of loons on their breeding grounds, and Maine Audubon is pleased to be one of the funding recipients. Maine Audubon’s proposal for the five-year Maine Loon Restoration Project, A Comprehensive Approach by Maine Partners to Restore Common Loon Losses Resulting from the B-120 Oil Spill, was awarded $825,445. This project is a collaboration between Maine Audubon, Maine Lakes, Lakes Environmental Association, and the Penobscot Indian Nation, in collaboration with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
The goals of the grant are to increase productivity and survival of nesting Common Loons at breeding sites across New England and New York. State and federal environmental agencies selected six projects in all – five comprehensive management projects and one land acquisition – to receive funding to restore common loons affected by the B-120 oil spill. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers the grants and provides funds to the projects which continue until December 2025.
The goal of the loon nesting raft program is to increase the number of loon chicks hatched through placement and monitoring of nearly 100 artificial nesting platforms or “rafts” in territories with low nesting success. When used in the right ways and right situations, rafts have been helping loon pairs hatch chicks for many decades. But to benefit loons, rafts must be used correctly and in the right situations. Otherwise they can actually hurt a loon pair’s chances of a hatching chicks.
First, before placing a raft, it’s important to consider if loons on the lake are actually in trouble. Loons don’t necessarily nest every year and aren’t successful at nesting 100% of the time. Just because a pair doesn’t hatch chicks every year, it doesn’t mean they need our help. And rafts can only help with certain problems like water level changes, loss of nesting habitat, predation from land animals, or potentially moving a nest further from onshore disturbance.
If you have a pair on your lake or pond that has failed to hatch chicks for at least three years for one of these reasons, and are interested in a raft, email: loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org. We’re working with local residents to identify loon pairs that are failing to hatch chicks year after year and to figure out what’s causing the problem.
When we find a pair that is a good candidate for a raft, we’re helping to build and place rafts out on the water and teach volunteers how to monitor and maintain them.
Check out our Common Loon Nesting Rafts guide for more details.
Watch this video: Building and Siting Artificial Nesting Platforms for Loons (opens in YouTube) for more information about how to tell if a raft might be right for your pond; which type of raft might be the best fit for your location; and how to choose a good spot for a raft.
Before getting started with a raft, please consider that rafts are a serious investment of time and take active management. Rafts are placed in the spring and then either need to be taken out of the water and properly stored or prepared for overwintering in place (with the possibility that repairs may be required the following spring.)
Placing a raft or floating nesting sign involves much more than putting them out on the water. Proper placement, monitoring and maintenance is important. A raft in the wrong location can invite attacks from loon competitors or put the pair in harm’s way. Signs are beneficial only if they don’t attract more attention to nest. Wind and waves can remove nesting material or move anchors and rafts sometimes need additional floatation. Monitoring is important to track how well rafts and signs are working to assist struggling loon pairs and at-risk nest sites, and to shed light on issues and incidents that might occur.
Download a printable survey form for your lake Email completed forms to loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org or mail to: Maine Audubon, 20 Gilsland Farm Rd., Falmouth ME 04105 attn: Loon Restoration Project
* Be sure to print out copies of the survey form and reference sheet to bring on the water with you for your survey.
Reference Sheet for identifying loon stress behaviors, territorial signs, and chick development stages while you’re on the water.
How Close Is Too Close? Check out our brochure on loon stress behaviors and how to know if you’re too close to a loon.
We also provide on-site and on-the-water monitoring training during lake visits or when we visit your lake to help deploy your raft.
The success of this project depends on local volunteers to monitor loons weekly in territories where rafts and signs are placed, collecting detailed data on the raft’s condition, a loon pair’s nesting activity, success hatching chicks, and chick survival. Your surveys help us learn where chicks hatch and if they survive, and provide clues as to why nesting doesn’t succeed. And by being out there on the water observing, some of you have also been able to report when a boat’s wake flooded a nest or watercraft got too close to a loon family or nest.
Additional Loon Resources:
Maine Audubon has been involved in Fish Lead Free programs for years. With this grant we’re expanding the program to include more tackle exchanges, include more retailers in our tackle buyback program, and increase the number of lead tackle and monofilament line collection bins.
• Interested in hosting a lead tackle exchange on your lake? We can provide brochures, stickers, and other education materials, as well as lead-free tackle to give out to people who turn in their old lead tackle. Email conserve@maineaudubon.org to start planning your event.
• Would you like to put up a lead tackle and monofilament line collection bin at your boat ramp? Maine Audubon can provide construction plans and up to $30 reimbursement for any materials purchased funding is available. Email conserve@maineaudubon.org for more information. Note: Collection bins are not allowed at MDIFW state owned boat launches, to find the map of public launches click here.
For more information about the Fish Lead Free Initiative, go to fishleadfree.org
During the first two years of the Maine Loon Restoration Project, project partners worked with dozens of local volunteers to distribute outreach materials, conduct presentations, and place nesting signs in appropriate locations, all in an effort to raise awareness of actions we can take to better co-exist with loons. In 2023 Maine Lakes hired staff to manage and grow the Look Out for Loons outreach and education program and improve nest protection efforts. The Look Out for Loons Program now provides training and support to volunteers statewide on how to conduct local loon outreach through one-on-one conversations, presentations, educational materials, and Fish Lead Free events, as well as how to determine when and where nesting signs might be appropriate.
For more info, visit lakes.me/loons or email: loons@lakes.me
Find out if your lake or a nesting area is a good fit for one of our nesting signs. Download and read this flyer or email loonrestoration@maineaudubon.org to be sure your situation meets the state’s criteria for allowing a loon nesting sign. Read this brochure for a guide to loon behavior.
If you find an injured, distressed, dead loon, or abandoned nest, click here for more information.
On this project Maine Audubon partners with Maine Lakes, Lakes Environmental Association, and the Penobscot Nation. The project is implemented in collaboration with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. In addition, Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Loon Preservation Committee, and Biodiversity Research Institute received grants and are working on projects of their own.
In addition, we would like to thank the following organizations and groups for their support and assistance:
Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary – raft design and conducted staff training programs.
Robinson Raft – Many hours of time and energy in teaching about, organizing, and coordinating the modular rafts for the project
Kittery Trading Post – Discount on canoe purchase and top supporter of our Fish Lead Free tackle exchange program. KTP has held events resulting in over 200 lbs. of lead tackle turned in and out of Maine’s waters.
Gnome Landscaping – Donation of landscape cloth
Garbage to Garden – Generous donation of 200lbs of compost
Loon Preservation Committee & Vermont Center for Ecostudies, and Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation – photos, information, and guidance
