Member a Day in May Raffle Prizes
All new members during the month of May will be entered in a raffle to win one of three great prizes:
A handcrafted loon decoy made by Dux’ Dekes. This decoy is accurately painted to represent an adult loon in its breeding plumage, at 1/4 the size of an actual loon!
An 18 x 24″ canvas print of a Kittie Wilson photo showing a loon pair feeding their young chicks.
A gift basket of loon-themed household items. Perfect for a loon lover, this gift basket includes an oven mitt, a tea towel, recipe cards, a dip-spreader, and fir needle scented soap.
In addition to the chance to win one of these prizes, all LPC members receive:
- Our comprehensive LPC Newsletter two times per year (Summer and Fall)
- LPC’S E-Newsletter
- Invitations to LPC’s special events throughout the year
- A membership decal
- A 10% discount on all merchandise from The Loon’s Feather Gift Shop
- Most importantly, you receive the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping to preserve the haunting call of the loon on New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds.
Why Support the Loon Preservation Committee?
The Loon Preservation Committee works to protect loons and their habitats in New Hampshire. While our work focuses on loons within our state, its impacts are far-reaching and extend to other species (including humans!) both within and outside of New Hampshire’s borders.
Time and again, loons have proven to be a species whose health and well-being provides important information about the overall health of the systems that they inhabit. More often than not, the problems that affect loons also affect other species that inhabit or spend time on the same ecosystem, including fish, other bird species, and even humans. Research into the problems that impact loons can help to uncover problems that may also be impacting other species.
This point is exemplified by the recent change in fish consumption guidelines for Squam Lake. The new, more stringent guidelines were put into place by the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) after their testing of fish caught in the lake revealed levels of PCB’s (industrial coolants) sufficient to cause impacts to human health if consumed in large quantities. This problem would not have come to light without LPC’s work—our research into contaminants impacting loons on Squam spurred NHDES to conduct the fish testing that revealed potential problems for humans.
How will my membership dollars be used?
When you become a member of the Loon Preservation Committee, your membership dollars go directly toward funding our work, allowing us to:
- Monitor the number and breeding success of loons to record trends in loon populations and assess the effectiveness of our management efforts
- Build and float nesting rafts and protect nest sites with signs and rope lines
- Band loons to study their life history and take samples to monitor the health of loons and lakes
- Rescue loons in distress and work with wildlife rehabilitators to return them to the wild
- Recover dead loons and inviable loon eggs to determine contaminant levels and causes of death
- Educate the public about loons through presentations, exhibits, signs, fact sheets, and our website
- Publish findings of our research in the LPC Newsletter and scientific journals
- Create a large grassroots network of members and volunteers who build awareness and appreciation for loons and other wildlife in New Hampshire
- Conduct initiatives to protect loons from the biggest threat that they face in New Hampshire, lead poisoning
- Provide a Live Loon Cam to help educate viewers about loons and the nesting process