418: Paul Chickene - Lake Norman Wildlife Conservationists

There are 96 islands on Lake Norman, and Paul Chickene will be the first to tell you that number is shrinking. Paul is VP of Communications and Volunteer Engagement for the Lake Norman Wildlife Conservationists, a volunteer nonprofit working to protect, conserve, and restore wildlife habitat in and around the lake – and he found his way into it the same way a lot of people do: he tagged along on a cleanup, got a ride on a sheriff's boat, and never left.

Paul walks Jeff through the Adopt an Island program (all you really need is a kayak, a bag, and some gloves), the 80-plus osprey nesting platforms the group has installed around the lake, and how the trash volunteers log on the website loops back into funding for trees and native plantings that fight shoreline erosion. He also shares a weekend rescue story involving an osprey tangled in fishing line and the Carolina Raptor Center – and makes a straightforward ask for the thing the organization needs most: people.

https://lnwc.org/

Carolina Raptor Center:
https://carolinaraptorcenter.org/

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Hosted by:
Jeff Hamm
Lake Norman Real Estate Broker
https://lknreal.com/