ONE DOZEN AND COUNTING!

We have reached the one dozen level of sea turtle nests as of June 1, 2011 on our stretch of beach. Three of those nests are "documented" and "staked and roped off" by EAI (see red "T" pins on map). The other 9 are recorded by this writer (see yellow "star" pins on map). The yellow pins designate only that a "turtle crawl" was observed and that it was possible that a nest was laid. The red pins indicate that EAI has explored the nest and has determined that eggs were actually laid and the type of sea turtle that laid the eggs. For instance, a "CC" on the stakes indicates a Loggerhead sea turtle nest. A "DC" on the stakes indicates that a Leatherback sea turtle made the nest. The incubation period for both types of turtle eggs is generally between 45-60 days, so when you view the chart that is included in this posting, you will see that we have projected when the eggs will hatch for each of the twelve nests recorded so far.

"REJOICING" IN SAND!

Yes, it official! County officials and residents "rejoiced" because of an announcement by U.S. Representative Rooney on Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers will, according to an article in the "St. Lucie News Tribune" on Thursday, May 19, 2011, spend "$6.1 million to renourish Fort Pierce Beaches". As you may remember, the erosion of our stretch of beach was of major concern to this writer at the beginning of this turtle nesting season, since severe erosion and huge "escarpments" along our beaches (see previous blog entries) were restricting sea turtle access to our beaches. Unfortunately, the above described renourishment efforts can't begin until after this turtle nesting season has ended, but such an effort in between nesting seasons will drastically improve the beaches for the next turtle nesting season beginning in March/April of next year. Congratulations to Rep. Tom Rooney for taking up the cause and getting the Army Corps of Engineers to expend the dollars that were supposed to have been expended on beach renourishment this year anyway. Our thanks to Rep. Rooney for his part in getting some action relative to this problem.

Obviously, this project wasn't only critical to our nesting sea turtles. Probably more important in many minds was the adverse impact that not renourishing the beaches would have on our local economy. We do have a "tourist season", as well, and if that was the main consideration for getting renourishment money for our beaches, so be it! I'm sure that the "tourist dollar", and protecting public and private property along that stretch of beach were the prime factors but, at least, the sea turtles and their future nests and hatchlings will benefit along with the tourists.

Speaking of sea turtle nests, we now have 6 nests by my count. One is definitely a nest, as officially marked by the EAI, but the other 5 are only "turtle crawls" that appear to have nests that were laid closer to the dune line (sea oats, sea grasses, etc.). I'm going to keep track of those this year, again, because EAI is only marking "one out of every so many" - I'm guessing 1 out of 24 this year. So.... I will attempt to keep track of those "suspected" sea turtle nests, even though EAI is not. The attached map shows where the nests are to date along our stretch of beach. Wish us well for the remainder of the season!

FIRST SEA TURTLE NEST OF THE 2011 SEASON

Today was a big day in the scope of this 2011 sea turtle nesting season - at least for this stretch of "eroded and escarped" beach! Yes, as of 4/28/11, EAI (Environmental Associates, Inc.) has officially marked one nest along our section of beach (see attached photo). It was "posted and taped" as being laid on 4/28/11 and labeled as "CC 4/28" - meaning that they believe the nest was laid on 4/28/11 and is a "CC", or "loggerhead" nest. We found one other set of fresh "turtle crawl tracks", but that one was not officially staked out as was the first one. However, they did pound in a stake up on the dune line with the notation of "DC 5/2 to indicate that they believed this "nest" was a Leatherback nest laid on 5/2/11. Unfortunately, both nests were below the "escarpments" on the beach at those locations and probably won't provide much safety in case of additional storms and wave action along the beach throughout the summer. Also, it is obvious that EAI is not going to "stake out" (placing stakes and bright tape around the nest to outline the location of the nest) all nests that they find this season, so it will be up to us Turtle Dads to try to list all that they find, plus the ones that we find as a result of "crawls" and/or other signs that a nest has been laid. Hopefully, even though EAI will not stake out each and every nest that they find, we hope that they will at least do as they did with today's new nest and at least place a stake up near the dune line to indicate that they believe that a nest was laid somewhere between the ocean and that stake on the dune line. That might be enough to ensure the safety of some nests from human-made disturbance or destruction, even though it won't do much to protect the nests from Mother Nature.