Loons are fish-eating birds at the top of the aquatic food chain. This makes a loon a signature or indicator species of the health of the aquatic ecosystem.

Further, the environmental quality of a region can be monitored by the presence of its loons. The Montana Loon Society Board of Directors understands this and is concerned about common loons wherever and whenever they occur in Montana.

MONTANA LOON SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Montana Loon Society Board of Directors consists of ten members. The Executive Committee has four members including president, vice-president, secretary, and treasure. These serve two-year terms. Six regional board members complete the board. Each is from one of six regions in northwest Montana that have nesting loons.* These regional board members serve three-year terms. The regions include:

  • Region 1: Blackfoot and Clearwater River Drainages
  • Region 2: Kalispell East to Swan River Drainage (Beaver Creek Divide)
  • Region 3: Stryker north to the Canadian Border.
  • Region 4: Kalispell West through the Thompson Chain of Lakes.
  • Region 5: Glacier National Park including North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead River.
  • Region 6: Yaak, Kootenai and Bull River Drainages

 
*The Montana Loon Society regions do not match the management regions developed by the Common Loon Working Group. The CLWG regions are based on U.S. Forest Service, MT FWP or other agency areas of wildlife management, which for the most part have set boundaries and do not overlap. The Montana Loon Society Board of Directors is based on the six general regions of Northwest Montana where loons nest and can span agency management boundaries.

Executive Committee

Lynn Kelly

President

Lynn Kelly has been the president of the Montana Loon Society since 1993 when the Montana Loon Study became the Montana Loon Society. Born in Syracuse, New York (good loon country), Lynn experienced Seattle, Washington, and Cincinnati, Ohio before her family settled in Los Angeles, California. Her father was an electrical engineer who had landed his dream job there and was involved (literally) in putting men on the moon.

From an early age, Lynn was fascinated by pretty much anything that moved and would normally be found outside catching critters in local streams and woods. She determined early-on that she wanted to be a veterinarian like her granddad in Ronan, Montana so biology was her major from high school through college. However at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she had to make the choice between microbiology and medical school or ornithology and field ecology (catching everything in streams again). Field ecology won out and Lynn earned a B.S. in Biology/Field Ecology.

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Montana was her family’s ancestral home so in 1975, Lynn moved to Polson and earned her teaching certificate at the University of Montana. She started teaching 7th grade science at the Polson Middle School. Teaching was absolutely Lynn’s “cup of tea” but a lifetime goal was to earn a master’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Management. Initially she thought about floating down the Missouri River analyzing cavity nesters in cottonwood stands but in 1985 she started helping Don Skaar in his work to determine the range of common loons in Montana.

Lynn had taken an ornithology class, but to become a “real birder” you had to have a bird book, binoculars and a birding buddy and that’s what Marcy Bishop was for Lynn…besides being a boss, friend, mentor and second mother. Lynn was privileged to accompany Marcy on birding trips and it was a trip to Pablo National Wildlife Refuge on a spring day when Lynn saw a huge black and white waterbird in the reservoir right next to the dike that you didn’t need binoculars to see. It was Lynn’s first sighting of a common loon. Years later in 1985, Lynn slipped into the forest around a tiny lake to see if any loons were present. It was the end of a hot summer’s day and the sunset flamed through and above the trees. The thick cattails around the lake revealed large circular flattened areas…. were they the day beds of grizzly? Unable to really see the whole lake, Lynn vocalized a wail and instantly got a response from the resident pair of loons who swiftly swam towards the possible intruder. It was mesmerizing! Stunned and breathless, Lynn was instantly hooked on loons. A few weeks later, Lynn accompanied Don Skaar and Kristi DuBois to a lake where a significant disturbance of a loon family had occurred. In the process of discussing what her master’s thesis should be, both Don and Kristi declared that loons should be the thesis topic.

In 1986, Lynn was granted a sabbatical leave from the Polson School District in order to pursue her goal of a master’s degree in Fish and Wildlife Management at Montana State University. Her thesis determined that human recreational activities (especially fishing) were negatively impacting the ability of common loons to successfully reproduce in Montana. The research also determined that floating signs significantly increased the number of 2-chick broods. Further, the success of the floating signs was facilitated by having someone at boat ramps explaining to the public why the signs were there. These components eventually became the “management strategy” for managing loons in Montana.

Lynn retired from teaching at Polson Middle School after 35 years, but taught an additional 3 years at a local Christian School. These days she teaches general biology at the Salish Kootenai College during the fall quarter and works at Delaney’s Landscape Center in Polson, specializing in perennials from April to September. She can’t wait each spring to get out in the field to her beloved loons.

Christie Ferruzzi

Vice-President

Christie Ferruzzi was born and raised in Wyoming (3rd generation). She moved with her husband Ed to their land in the Salish Mountains of NW Montana near Trego in 1977 and has lived there for the last 44 years. They raised their 3 children (Heather, Elia and Ashton) there and lived without electricity for 13 years and without a telephone for 11 years. Christie worked in Silviculture for the Forest Service at Murphy Lake Ranger Station for 25 years and retired in 2013.

In the mid-1980’s, Christie met Lynn Kelly at the S. shore beach of Dickey Lake where Lynn was monitoring the lake for the Common Loon. This immediately captured Christie’s attention as she was/is an avid bird watcher. In 1988, Lynn put Don Skaar in touch with Christie to do volunteer work, collecting loon observation data on 15 lakes in the Tobacco Valley/Stryker area of NW Montana and public information data primarily at the boat launches of Dickey and Murphy Lakes, and placing sign buoys around nesting areas.

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This led to becoming a board member of the Montana Loon Society (MLS) for the Tobacco Valley/Stryker Area and working on cost share programs with the biologists Guenter Heinz and Lynn Johnson at Murphy Lake R.S. They set out nesting platforms and sign buoys on several lakes and participated in May and July Loon Day counts. Christie became an Area Coordinator (Murphy Lake Area) for the Common Loon Working Group (CLWG) in 1999 and turned it over to Lynn Johnson in 2013.

Christie has served as Vice President of the Montana Loon Society from 2003 to present. She continues to work with the Common Loon Working Group in her role as MLS Vice President and she continues to observe area loons and participate in the May and July Loon Counts.

Donna Love

Secretary

Donna Love, author of Loons, Diving Birds of the North, grew up roaming outdoors in western Oregon along the banks of the Yamhill River on the eastern side of the Pacific Coastal Range. Her father loved to salmon fish, so her family had a very rustic (no electricity or running water) fishing cabin on the Nestucca River in Pacific City. Her family spent so much time in their boat that Donna’s mother said the boat was Donna’s cradle. This gave Donna a deep love for water and all water creatures, but she didn’t know anything about loons.

The first Donna recalls hearing about loons was reading a story to her three young children about Bambi that had a loon family in it. That was Donna’s first introduction to loons until 1996 when she moved to the lakeshore of Seeley Lake with her husband and children for her husband’s work as the Seeley Lake District Ranger with the Forest Service. The first summer, when Donna heard the loons calling on the lake at night, she’d close the window, saying, “What’s that racket!” She thought she was hearing coyotes across the lake. Her husband told her “It’s just the loons.”

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The next spring in 1997, as her family settled into life on the lake, Donna, her husband and three children met Lynn Kelly checking on nesting loons one evening at the Seeley Lake Viewing Blind. Built near the backwaters on the lake’s north end along the hiking trial that followed the Clearwater Canoe Trail, the blind was built so visitors could enjoy the many birds and wildlife that used the slow moving, marshy waters. Lynn, as always, had a spotting scope with her. She showed Donna and her family the loon nest near the blind. Lynn talked about loons until the sun set. Then, since Lynn didn’t know exactly when the Seeley Lake birds had nested, Lynn asked Donna to visit the nest daily and report when the chicks hatched. Donna visited the viewing blind every day. The nest was easy to see that year as the spring of 1997 was a flood year due to the large amount of snow that fell during the winter of 96-97, which allowed the loons to build their nest close to the viewing blind. Soon after, Donna attended Lynn’s Seeley Lake Loon and Fish Festival Loon Walk & Talk. After the loon chicks hatched, Donna and two of her children accompanied Lynn on a canoe ride to collect eggshells. Donna was hooked.
In the fall of 1997, Donna attended the MLS Board Meeting, which was held that year at John and Martha Madsen’s cabin on Placid Lake. Donna has always said, “I made the mistake of taking a pen and notebook to that meeting.” Lynn asked her to take the minutes, and that’s how Donna became the secretary of the Montana Loon Society. She has held that position every year since, except 2011, when her daughter was ill and had a newborn baby. (All turned out well.)
When her children all reached school age, Donna began substitute teaching at the grade school. In 1999, Donna wrote a children’s story about loons. It helped that she had a background in art education. She sent the story to Mountain Press Publishing Company in Missoula on the advice of her husband, Tim, who knew of a children’s book they had just published about owls. Donna loved writing and had written many stories, but she had never sent one to a publisher before. Within a week, Mountain Press called her and said they didn’t want a book for young children, but could she write a book for school age children like the book they had just published on owls. Donna’s knees began to shake, and her voice trembled, but she answered as confidently as she could, “Yes!”

In 2003, Donna’s first book, Loons, Diving Birds of the North, was published (illustrated by Joyce Mihran Turley). Following that, in 2006, Donna wrote, Awesome Ospreys, Fishing Birds of the World, which was also published by Mountain Press and illustrated by Joyce Turley. Since, Donna has written nine more books, which are mostly nature books for children. In 2009, Henry the Impatient Heron, received a “Mom’s Choice Award.” In 2012, The Glaciers are Melting! was Montana’s Book of the Year. Donna credits her successful book writing career to the loons on Seeley Lake.

Donna now lives in Missoula with her newly retired from the Forest Service husband. They now have two granddaughters and a grandson.

Don Skaar

Treasurer

In 1982, Don Skaar started and WAS the Montana Loon Study. He commenced to traveling literally thousands of miles around northwest Montana checking untold numbers of lakes (at least 62 lakes that had loons according to the Management Plan of the day) trying to establish the range boundaries of breeding loons. His future wife, Tedra, often accompanied him.

Don’s data and the data of his late father, P.D. Skaar, author of Bird Distribution in Montana, provide us with the first accurate Montana loon information ever recorded, spanning the late 1970’s to 1989. (Don had searched out previous historical data on Montana loons and found little he could use.)

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Don organized the first set of volunteers to help observe and monitor loons (some of whom are still involved) and contacted the now disbanded North American Loon Fund (NALF) in New Hampshire. This led to the Montana Loon Study becoming an affiliate of NALF.

Around 1985, Don was traveling to various Audubon chapters giving his loon programs asking for money and volunteers. That’s when Lynn Kelly got involved. (As Don said later, “I created a monster.”) Working with biologists from the Forest Service (Bob Summerfield, Kootenai; Tom Wittinger, Flathead; Mike Hillis, Lolo), and from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (Dale Becker, biologist,) Glacier National Park (Steve Gniadek), Department of State Lands (Dean Graham), Montana Natural Heritage Program (David Genter), and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (Dennis Flath and Dan Casey), Don showed that the common loon needed to be listed as a “sensitive species.” In 1986, the Forest Service listed the common loon a sensitive species.

Don started our annual “Loon Day” in about 1986, and compiled the data for several years until we began to send the data to the Montana Natural Heritage Program in Helena at the state capitol. In 1987, Don began the process of writing the Management Plan and the Montana Loon Study contracted with the Forest Service to do this. Don write the Loon Management Plan, which was part of a Challenge Grant Cost Share Program (a grant he also wrote) in which the Forest Service funding was matched by monies from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the North American Loon Fund. He traveled to a North American Loon Fund meeting to share his information about loons in Montana in the process of securing these funds. The writing of the plan was completed in 1988-89.

In the meantime, Don had been holding annual meetings of the Montana Loon Study, usually held in June in preparation for Loon Day. For this he organized all the volunteers across the state for Loon Day, and as mentioned, he compiled all the Loon Day data. Don wrote the early newsletters reporting the results and loon news around northwest Montana.

In 1992, the Loon Management Plan began to transition into a Loon Conservation Strategy and the Montana Loon Study started becoming the Loon Conservation Strategy Loon Society, then the Montana Loon Study of which Don served as president. The latter transformed into the Montana Loon Society. Don served as the first president of the Montana Loon Society, and he has continued to serve the interest of loons as treasurer and still is.

While he was doing all the loon work, Don was employed as the fisheries biologist – first as a contractor rehabilitating trout streams, and then for MFWP in Libby and now in Helena. Quite literally there would be no Montana Loon Society without Don Skaar. We owe him a huge debt of gratitude and in 2000 he was honored with the Montana Loon Society Founder’s Award.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Region 1: Blackfoot/Clearwater

George Leighton

George Leighton became a Montana Loon Society member in the early 90s and a Board Member in 1999. He worked for the Forest Service for 36 years and retired in 1993. For a time, he was the District Ranger on the Plains Ranger District. He now lives in Missoula and volunteers for Forest Service historical restoration and archeological projects. He has a cabin on Salmon Lake in the Clearwater River drainage where he has watched and enjoyed loons for 26 years. For many of the first years, he helped the Montana Loon Society place Loon Nesting Sanctuary Signs out on the north end of Salmon Lake. His favorite things about loons are their song, their strange habits, and their beauty. He said, “I joined the Society because Lynn Kelly asked me to, and I have a lot of respect for her and her work with loons.”

Region 2: Kalispell East to Swan River Drainage

Mark Ruby

After serving as a Loon Ranger while a student at University of Montana, Mark Ruby became a MLS member in 2005 and a Board Member in 2010. He has worked for the U.S. Forest Service on the Flathead National Forest for 13 years. Today he serves as the Wildlife Biologist for Swan Lake Ranger District. He lives in Kalispell and along with volunteering for MLS, he volunteers for the MT Chapter of the Wildlife Society and for MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Mark grew up in Kalispell and has watched and enjoyed loons for the past 16 years. His favorite thing about loons is the speed at which they can fly (70 mph!). He said, “I joined the Society because of the work they do protecting and advocating for Montana’s loons.” Mark is married with two boys. The youngest is learning to enjoy the outdoors, too.

Region 3: Stryker North to the Canadian Border

Kris Kindberg

Kris moved to Tetrault Lake near the Canadian Border in Northwest Montana in 2003. Kayaking summers on the lake, the highlight for her was seeing loons and hearing their beautiful calls. In those early years, a loon pair nested on an island near the fishing access on the lake and chicks hatched. She watched them mature and fly off in the fall.

2015 was the first year she could watch the loons nesting. A platform nest had been placed just opposite her house on the south end of the lake making viewing easy. It was exciting to watch the pair taking turns on the nest and see the chick just after it hatched and riding on mom’s back. That is when she really fell in love with loons. Sadly, the chick was predated by an eagle a month later. That same year she joined the Montana Loon Society, which was busy with loon activities. The loons were banded, chick included, and she was able to attend as a bystander. She said, “It was an incredible experience and so professional.”

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Counting the loons on Tetrault Lake is also a noteworthy endeavor for her. Once, one early morning on the lake for the May count, to her amazement, at least 7 loons landed and flew off during the count. That was the first time she had encountered so many loons in one place.

In 2019, Kris, with the help of Christie Ferruzzi and the generosity of Homestead Brewery in Eureka Kris hosted the Montana Loon Society’s first ever “Pint Night.” The evening’s activities were very successful raising over one thousand dollars, much of which stayed in her area to be spent on the needs of loons there.

The thing Kris loves most about loons is their regal character, coloring, shape of their head, and commitment as a pair and to raising their young. Kris said, “My wish for every year is to see another chick hatch, and live to fly off in the fall.”

Region 4: Kalispell West through the Thompson Chain of Lakes

Tony Dawson

Tony Dawson is a third-generation Kalispell native who has always valued the wildlife around us. He and his wife Lisa purchased a little slice of lake front property on Ashley Lake in 1988, and he has had a love affair with loons ever since. When their three children were young and impressionable, they tried to instill in them a love for nature and the outdoors. Tony’s first work on behalf of loons was in 1990 when his daughter was 6 years old. With her, Tony, and daughter Ashley (yes, named after the lake) would find the nesting sites each spring and place signs on shore to keep people at a safe distance. Later, Tony was lucky enough to participate in the first training for banding loons that was done in Montana in 1996 and has been helping with banding and supporting the efforts to sustain the loon population ever since.
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Ashley Lake has the distinction of having the highest number of nesting pairs of loon on any lake west of the Mississippi at four pair. The lake, as with many loon nesting lakes in Montana, continues to be developed and see increased use. Luckily the Ashley Lake Property Owners Association places a high value on supporting and protecting loons. They have contributed time and money to the Montana Loon Society annually. Tony said, “The critical work that the Montana Loon Society does gives us all the best chance possible to ensure that loons continue to thrive in Northwest Montana. I will never lose my fascination with loons because they are such a unique and special species with their ability to dive incredibly deep (200 feet), fly so fast (70+ mph), and call back and forth with one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds that exist among the wild birds of Montana.”

Region 5: Glacier National Park including North, Middle and South Forks of Flathead River Corridors.

Rachel Manley

Rachel Manley joined the Montana Loon Society board in 2024. Born and raised in Colorado Springs, she earned her degree in geology from Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1987. In 1994 she followed her heart to Glacier National Park, where she worked seasonally through 2014 on trail crew, initial attack fire crew, and as fire lookout on Numa Ridge, before switching to the Ranger division in 1997 with a position at Logging Ranger Station. In 1998 she became a Bear Management and Law Enforcement Ranger in Many Glacier for 10 seasons, followed by 6 seasons as the Bowman Lake Ranger. In 2015 she began working for Flathead National Forest as Bear Ranger and Wildlife Technician. She volunteered weekends with MT FWP in grizzly bear conflict management from 2012-2021. From 1998-2011, she spent several austral summers at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, working in radio communications. Non-Antarctic winters were in Wyoming or Colorado until she became a year-round Montana resident in 2014.

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Rachel was hooked on loons since her first July Loon Day observation in 1998. She continued participating in Loon Days throughout her Glacier career. While stationed at Bowman, she monitored the nest at the foot of Lower Quartz, placing closure signs during nesting season. With Flathead Forest, loons were a primary (and favorite!) piece of her work during their nesting season. She monitored the Flathead Forks breeding lakes, instigated a program for the Spoon Lake VRBO managers to receive loon information for their renters, and began placing buoys around Spoon’s nest, leading to successful breeding on that lake for the first time in a few years. She developed a Lead-Free sign to be posted at all breeding and foraging lakes and worked to develop a cooperative relationship with the landowners around the breeding lakes in her area. She partnered with MT FWP to build and place a new nesting platform on Tepee Lake in 2018 and that same year she received MLS’s Partner of the Year award.

She and her husband Tim live in Bigfork. Although retired since 2022, she is honored and thrilled by the opportunity to continue her involvement in helping Montana’s loon population by serving on the board.

Region 6: Yaak, Kootenai and Bull River Drainages

Currently Vacant

If you live in one of these two areas, care about loons in your area, and would like to become more involved, contact the Montana Loon Society.

The Montana Loon Society also works closely with the Common Loon Working Group.
Click here to see list and email addresses of Common Loon Working Group Coordinators and a map of the areas they serve.

CLWG Coordinators

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

The Montana Loon Society could not care for the common loons in our state without the support of the many partners, volunteers, groups and others that work tirelessly on behalf of loons. Some of these regularly count loons. Others place nesting signs year after year. Some work to protect the lakeshore. Others provide new information that helps loons in our state. This list is endless. To recognize the contributions of others, the Montana Loon Society has developed six awards to show our appreciation and to show that we have noticed their contribution. Although these awards do not have to be awarded every year, we strive to recognize important contributions made during a year.

Montana Loon Society Awards

Partner of the Year

Partner of the Year is given to government agency or private industry employees who, in the course of their employment, in spite of having many duties which may or may not include monitoring loons, nonetheless makes the time and takes the effort to get the best loon information and achieve the best loon management possible with available resources. We could not do our work without their help and support.

Volunteer of the Year

Volunteer of the Year goes to people who volunteer many hours of their personal time and effort to ensure that loons will continue to be a part of our Montana landscape. They often also provide vehicles, computers, phones, boats and anything else needed. We couldn’t continue our work without them.

Conservation Partner of the Year

Conservation Partner of the Year, added in 2016, is for a person or group that helps conserve areas of land, water, or sky important to Montana’s loons.

Pioneer of the Year

Pioneer of the Year, instigated in 2006, is given to people whose completed research adds significantly to science, and our understanding of common loons.

Founders Award

The Founders Award is given to people that were with the Society from the beginning of the Society, which so far includes Don Skaar.

Recent Award Recipients

 2023 MLS Partner of the Year: Kelsey Preslar

The 2023 Partner of the Year was awarded to Kelsey Preslar, Wildlife Biological Technician on the Eureka Ranger District from 2018-2023, who is now a GIS Analyst on the same district. Kelsey graduated from Portland State University with a major in Environmental Science and completed her masters in GIS at Northwest Missouri State University. Before becoming a Loon Ranger, she worked in various environmental summer camps, held forest/avian research
positions, and even conducted train rides at a zoo. She said, “All of these experiences were tied together by my love of the outdoors and my passion to get others involved and excited about this beautiful planet we all live on.”

While working with loons she enjoyed playing the ultimate game of hide and seek while trying to determine nest locations, and seeing the adorable fluff-ball chicks those first few days after hatching. She loved the soap opera-esque drama of territorial disputes, to bald eagle alerts, to Canada geese platform takeovers. Using the Educational Loon Trunk, Kelsey also began an “All About Loons” Kindergarten program for grade schools in the area leading field trips to local loon lakes. Under Kelsey’s direction over 300 kindergarteners learned about loons.

Kelsey said, “Getting those little inside glimpses of life as a loon is something you really only get to appreciate by spending ample time around these amazing animals. No matter where life takes me, I will never tire of hearing the loon’s haunting wail travel across a lake.”

MLS Board Member, Christie Ferruzzi, who nominated Kelsey for this award, said, “We greatly appreciate Kelsey’s years of dedication to loon education, and to the monitoring, management and outstanding reporting on Northwest Montana’s loons.”

2023 MLS Volunteer of the Year: George Leighton

The 2023 MLS Volunteer of the Year was received by George Leighton, who has served as a Board Member for 30 years since 1994 when he retired as a forest planner in 1993 on the Lolo National Forest, Supervisor Office in Missoula.

With a cabin on Salmon Lake in the Clearwater drainage, George has also been a dedicated Clearwater Resource Council water quality monitor since 1996 when the lake received a water quality rating of “impaired” due to past issues. This helped the Council take steps to actively improve water quality on the lake. (To become a part of their Adopt-a-Lake program, contact Contact Us — Clearwater Resource Council (crcmt.org)

Throughout all these years, George has also monitored loons. He said, “The common loon is unique in so many ways.” He loves hearing its calls and watching the birds rear their young. He is amazed by the yearly migration to and from the ocean, and how they return to their same lake. He knows loons have a great affect on people and enjoys seeing them return.

MLS member, Tim Love, who nominated George for this award said, “George is more than an enthusiastic member of Montana Loon Society. He’s an active member that has donated numerous hours tracking loons on Salmon Lake for over 30 years. What’s more, he’s been a Board member representing the Seeley-Blackfoot area for nearly the same time. His dedication
and faithfulness to Montana’s loons is commendable and noteworthy. Thanks George!”

2022 MLS Partner of the Year: Laura Strong

MLS Partner of the Year was awarded to Laura Strong, retiring Common Loon Working Group Co-chair. Laura became the co-chair in 2016. During her six-plus years as co-chair, she was a wildlife biologist on the Tally Lake Ranger District, Flathead NF. When she first started working with loons, she was a wildlife tech, so she knows all aspects of loon management from on-the- ground loon ranger duties to advanced management needs.

“Laura is passionate about the wildlife of northwest Montana and has a curiosity to find creative solutions to any management challenge that may arise. At meetings she has the ability to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments, but also keep everyone on task. She was especially adept at keeping the CLWG organized to follow through on upcoming projects and issues,” said Jami Belt, Glacier NP biologist.

“Laura is a passionate caring human. She is always willing to help when help is needed and cares deeply for the people around her. She knows, and remembers EVERYONE, and makes you feel great when you see her,” said Jessica Swanson, FS Biologist, and new Co-chair, who has worked with Laura over the years.

Laura left the position as CLWG Co-Chair in March of 2022. She is now a consultation biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. MLS President Lynn Kelly said, “We will miss Laura at CLWG and MLS meetings, and especially in the field. She was an awesome partner to the society and Montana’s loons.”

2022 MLS Partner of the Year: Bob LeBlanc

MLS Volunteer of the Year goes to Bob LeBlanc, photographer, loon enthusiast, and property steward in the Eureka area. Bob has lived in Montana’s northwest corner all his life. Since 1983 he has been the property manager and golf course superintendent for Crystal Lakes Resort. With permission and help from area biologists, Tim Thier, Ethan Lula, and Tim Manley, Bob and his crew placed three artificial loon nest platforms on three lakes that he manages. Loons have used the nests to hatch and raise chicks. In 2021, the loon pair on Crystal Lake chased a Canada goose from a nest platform and incubated the eggs. Three goslings hatched. Two survived until fall migration. While Kootenai NF Wildlife Technician and Kelsey Preslar, kept a watchful eye, Bob’s skill as a photographer helped him document this remarkable event. (To learn more about the Crystal Lake loons, click here and scroll down to 2022) Further, Bob is donating the use of his photographs to develop a picture book about this remarkable story and is donating his part of the proceeds to MLS. MLS President Lynn Kelly said, “We appreciate our many loon volunteers, but some go above and beyond. Bob is one of those.”


Photo Credit: Bob LeBlanc

2021 Partner of the Year: Smith Wells, MT FWP GIS Natural Resource Analyst

 

This year’s Partner of the Year was awarded to Smith Wells, MT FWP GIS Natural Resource Analyst in Helena for her work on integrating MT loon data with Glacier National Park data. Smith Wells was the tech force who moved the Common Loon Working Group to one statewide database! She has also been instrumental as we transitioned to Survey 123 as our tool for May and July surveys and other observations.

Smith took on merging the Glacier National Park database in with the rest of the agencies and tribes which was no easy feat. She worked hand in hand with agency biologists to understand the needs of the survey, how to make sure everyone had access to it, and help us learn how to get the data back when we needed it to make land management decisions. Laura Strong, past CLWG Co-chair said, “Smith is such a pleasure to work with and shows her expertise at every turn. We’re so thankful to FWP for letting her work with us on this project–we couldn’t have done it without her.” Jami Belt, present CLWG Co-chair said, “Thank you, Smith, for your dedication and patience! You are a deserving recipient of this Partner of the Year AWARD! We appreciate you. On behalf of the entire Common Loon Working Group, Thank you.”

2021 Volunteer of the Year: Daniel and Virginia Poleschook, Photographers and Naturalists

 

This year’s MLS Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Daniel and Virginia Poleschook for their generous donation of their spectacular loon photos for use on our new website.

Not many miles away in Washington State, Daniel and Ginger have helped conduct conservation efforts on a small population of common loons in the northeast corner of the state near Loon Lake. In addition, they have also done work on the western side of the state on the Pacific coast and near Puget Sound.

The 78 common loon images in 15 categories that they shared with us are a small representation of the over one-million of the species that they have acquired since they started their work in 1996. With over 90 hard drives filled with their loon and other waterbird images, (and a large spreadsheet to provide information on each image!) their gift to the Montana Loon Society made it possible for our new loon web site to be one of the best in the state, and maybe even the nation.

MLS President Lynn Kelly said, “We appreciate their love of loons, their dedication to promoting information about common loons, and their years of work for loon conservation. We are honored by their gift to us and to Montana’s loons.”

2021 Conservation of the Year: Jack and Rachel Potter, Tepee Lake, North Fork Valley Cabin Owners.

 

This year’s Conservation Award goes to Jack and Rachel Potter, who, along with other cabin owners on Tepee Lake in the North Fork of the Flathead River, successfully petitioned MTFWP to limit lake watercraft to manually operated watercraft only.

Tepee Lake is a 43 acre, 20 feet deep lake at its deepest, with no perennial surface inlet or outlet. It sits in the Tepee Lake Complex, which is rated by the MT Dept. of Environmental Quality as a Wetland of Outstanding Significance due to its great diversity of wetland plant communities.

Historic data of common loons on the lake is unknown, but common loons and nesting success have been documented since the 1950’s. It is known that it has produced 23 loon chicks in the past thirty years. People on the lakeshore and wildlife (even bears) sometimes disturbed the nest, so twelve years ago, cabin owners requested and were granted by MTFWP an artificial nesting platform be installed, which helped nesting success.

Their petition stated that although there is currently no motorized use on the lake, nor any history of it, with the increase of people to Glacier National Park and new settlement in the North Fork Valley, it will only be a matter of time before a new neighbor or visitor brings a motorboat or jet-ski to the lake. The petitioners hope the new manually powered watercraft status will preserve the peace, quiet, and rustic character of the area before a conflict develops.

Montana Loon Society President Lynn Kelly stated, “We applaud the efforts of Jack and Rachel for their foresight in preserving Tepee Lake, limiting it to manually operated watercraft. The loons on the lake appreciate it, too.”

Click here to view a complete list and description of Montana Loon Society Award Recipients from 1994-2021

PDF Award Recipient List

NEWSLETTERS

Montana Loon Society Newsletters 2012 – 2024

Since 2012, the Montana Loon Society has produced a yearly newsletter to keep the membership informed about the needs of loons and the activities of the Society. Newsletters include a front page article of interest, the president’s report, area loon reports, awards, board and membership meeting report, updates from the Common Loon Working Group, the Loon Band Contest, and more.

2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

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406.926.2131

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P.O. Box 2386 Missoula, MT 59806

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Common Loon Images Provided by:

@Daniel Poleschook, Jr. and Virginia R. Poleschook
www.loonconservation.org
509.939.2748
daniel.poleschook@gmail.com