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.
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