Woman donates $1.8 million to help protect loons
A teacher has designated nearly $2 million from her estate to protect Minnesota's state bird.
It's one of the largest gifts given to the Nature Conservancy in Minnesota for the preservation of a single species. Iva Weir grew up in Bemidji, Minn., before moving to Oregon in her 20s. She died in 2006 at the age of 85.
Chris Weir Koetter of Bemidji is Iva Weir's niece. She said her aunt loved the outdoors, and the loon.
"She was truly a Minnesota girl at heart, and the loon was Minnesota," Koetter said. "She came back several times, and I'd take her out, and she always thrilled at seeing them. She made embroidery of loons, and had them on her mailbox, and I sent her tapes of their calls when those became available, and she just liked them."
The loon became the state bird in 1961. There are about 12,000 loons in Minnesota.
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