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A special THANK
YOU! to the
Adirondack businesses and boat launches who participated in ACLP’s 2004
Lead Sinker Exchange Project. We greatly appreciate the efforts of our
dedicated field staff and volunteers who maintained the sinker exchange
boxes during the summer of 2004. We are also very grateful to all the
concerned anglers who helped get the lead out of Adirondack lakes and ponds!
Our combined efforts, along with recent lead sinker legislation banning the
sale of small lead sinkers in New York, reflect an increasing awareness and
commitment towards protecting Adirondack wildlife from the threat of lead
toxicity due to accidental ingestion of lead fishing tackle.
 The
Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program’s Lead Sinker Exchange Project was
initiated throughout the Adirondack Park in 2002, in conjunction with the National
Wildlife Federation. Each summer, Adirondack anglers have been
able to exchange toxic lead sinkers and jigs for free samples of non-lead
sinkers at more than 50 fishing tackle supply stores and boat launches in
the Park. A free brochure discussing the toxic effects of lead on wildlife
populations, including loons, and the availability of alternative fishing
tackle, has also been available at the exchange sites during the summer
months.
The Lead Sinker Exchange Project provides information to
Adirondack anglers about the benefits to wildlife through the use of
alternative types of non-toxic fishing equipment. Loons and other waterbirds
die from lead poisoning when they mistakenly swallow lead fishing tackle
lost by anglers. Research has documented that lead toxicity is a significant
source of mortality in adult breeding loons throughout the Northeast and New
York.
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Students in Lake Placid
"GET THE LEAD OUT"
Sabrina Martin,
right, deposits the lead sinkers she
retrieved in the “Get the Lead Out!” display at Jones Outfitters in
Lake Placid. With her are Travis Tomich, center, and Chris
Balestrini, left. All three are members of George Bailey’s 6th-grade
science class at Lake Placid Middle School. Bailey’s class spent a
week in early November with Nina Schoch, Program Coordinator of the
Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, studying “loon science.”
Photos Courtesy Lake Placid News |
ACLP’s Lead Sinker
Exchange Project is made possible through contributions from concerned New
York State residents, and the collaborative effort of the partners forming
the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, including the Wildlife Conservation
Society, Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, NYS Dept. of
Environmental Conservation, BioDiversity Research Institute, and the Audubon
Society of New York State, Inc. The Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program is
especially grateful to
Elk Lake Lodge,
Bullet Weights, and
Du-Co Ceramics, Co.
Exchange Locations by Shop
ACLP’s “Get the Lead Out! Brochure
(pdf file) |
