Flight of the loon plate

Short of making Maine’s chickadee license plates less attractive (perhaps by drawing the bird, like the red lobster on the previous plate, to look cooked) demand for the alternative and environmentally supportive loon plate will continue to decline. This is especially true if all the state does is count on the goodwill of its citizens to spend the extra few dollars on the plate that supports Maine’s Nongame and Endangered Species Program.

The decline – sales are down nearly 25 percent since the chickadee landed on the plate – is the highly predicted result of the switch from the lobster. Part of the loon plate’s previous popularity was the comparative unpopularity of the lobster plate. Once it was gone, there was one less reason for drivers to pay the extra money for the conservation plate.

But as Bucky Owen, former commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, noted on Tuesday’s OpEd Page, the loon plate contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to recreational and wildlife places – dock and pier improvements at the Colonial Pemaquid Historic Site, roof renovations at Fort Knox, observation tower repairs at Grafton notch. It funds important environmental work like surveys of rare species such as the peregrine falcon, bald eagle and lynx; it pays for the development of landowners guides and for the recovery plans of threatened and endangered species. “Maine’s nongame program would be almost nonexistent if it weren’t for Loon Plates,” writes Mr. Owen. And the shortage of donations there is made worse by an even more dramatic drop in the Chickadee Check-off on Maine tax forms: in 1985, 29,200 people gave $129,122 through the checkoff; last year, 3,297 contributed $44,496.

The money from the loon plate is administered by the Department of Conservation and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, but if the departments hope to continue to use a license plate to raise money for programs, they may need to turn to others for help in marketing the idea. A new loon-plate design might be needed (with a break given to those who own the current plates) or maybe a new species (lynx, anyone?) to generate some interest among the public. It is noteworthy that while the Chickadee Check-off and the loon plates have lost popularity, the lottery tickets for the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund have grown more popular. Perhaps conservation the loon plates could come with some free heritage fund lottery tickets; or the lottery could give away first-year loon plates, with the state hoping to make money on re-registrations.

Maine, knowingly, took away a prime incentive to buy the loon plate when it traded in the lobster. Appealing for support for important environmental programs may be one way to persuade drivers to stay with the loon; finding low-cost ways to act as incentives for new customers may be another.