INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Each summer, just as the species has done for millions of years, magnificent sea turtles slowly emerge from the sea, ponderously crawl from the surf to the dune line, dig nests with large flippers and lay eggs.
If they’re lucky, the nest will be in a conservation area such as the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, diligently protected by the staff and volunteers of organizations such as the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
Ecologically conscious by nature, Jill Uttridge admits she never gave sea turtles any particular thought until her first turtle walk in 2003; after that, she was hooked.
“I was so struck with these amazing creatures,” said Uttridge, who moved with her husband Ed to Old Orchid only a few months earlier. “They’ve been coming back to lay eggs on their natal beach for 250 million years. They sexually mature around 25 to 30 years old and the females come back to lay their eggs in the same location from where they crawled out of a nest into the ocean.”
The sea turtle nesting season runs from May to October, and as Uttridge noticed the different variety of tracks along the beach on her morning walks, she began asking questions of volunteers monitoring the nests.
“I couldn’t satisfy my appetite for information about them; it just seemed too fantastic.”
To learn more, she signed on as a volunteer with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do nighttime turtle walk scouting, and morning inventories of hatched nests, counting successfully hatched eggs and recording the embryonic stages of those that didn’t.
As hatchlings emerge from the nest, they look for the bright glow of the horizon and, as they dash to the ocean, they become oriented to the beach. Although the males are pelagic, meaning they never again come ashore, females return to area of their birth.
“It’s one of the reasons why someone should never try to help a hatching to get to the shore. It’s so important that they crawl in the sand; they become imprinted on their beach. People think they’re doing a good thing by carrying it to the water, but they’re not.”
The hatchlings swim nonstop for approximately 48 hours to get to the Sargasso Sea in the temperate waters of the Gulf Stream, where they hide from predators in the floating sargassum seaweed (the kind with little air bladders that keep it afloat), and live the early years of their lives before eventually migrating to near-shore feeding grounds.
“It’s a horrendous journey because the minute they leave the nest there are crabs, seabirds, sharks and other larger fish that can get them before they ever get there,” said Uttridge. “But all those are natural predators. The sad thing is that man has introduced so many hazards to their existence. Scientists now believe that only 1 in 1,000 ever make it to become a breeding adult.”
Her thirst for knowledge not yet quenched, she next completed the three master naturalist program modules – coastal systems, freshwater wetlands and uplands habitat – which are sponsored by the University of Florida and conducted at the Environmental Learning Center.
“You can’t go through a program like that without wanting to give your time to volunteer and to continue to learn about how to protect the environment.”
Her volunteer efforts eventually expanded into those of the Gainesville- based Sea Turtle Conservancy, the world’s oldest sea turtle research and conservation group.
The late Dr. Archie Carr, “the father of sea turtles,” founded the organization in 1959 to focus attention on their looming extinction.
The 20.5-mile Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, named in his honor, was established in 1991 after scientists identified that stretch of land as the most productive beach in this hemisphere for loggerhead sea turtle nesting, and the most significant area for green turtle nesting in all of North America. Herbivores, the green turtles feed on the sea-grasses of the Indian River Lagoon.
As its land was acquired over time, the 248-acre refuge consists of four noncontiguous segments, buffered by the Sebastian Inlet State Park.
The southern boundary is Golden Sands County Park in Indian River County, its northern boundary is Coconut Point Park in Melbourne, and the Barrier Island Sanctuary Management and Education Center (Barrier Island Center) is located in the center, two miles north of the Inlet.
Uttridge also recently joined the Friends of Carr Refuge board, and hopes to galvanize the group into a stronger, more viable presence in the community.
“We’re very fortunate to have about a 22-mile stretch of land where sea turtles can utilize a dark undeveloped beach to lay their eggs,” she said, noting that sea walls and beach re-nourishment have all damaged once pristine beaches.
“I was struck with the fact that man has had such a negative impact and I want to do my part to reverse that. And one way is by just making people aware.”
The turtle walks, filled all summer long with residents and tourists from around the world, help to do just that.
Fish and Wildlife and the Conservancy rely on volunteers to augment staff with the hot and buggy jobs associated with turtle walks, and all tackle their tasks enthusiastically.
Straining their eyes against the dark while walking for miles up and down the shoreline watching for turtle tracks, the scouts have a particularly strenuous job.
They report via walkie-talkie to dispatchers who wait with visitors, all hoping to get a glimpse of the primordial ritual.
Before heading to the beach, visitors are given a background presentation and wander through the Barrier Island Center, which is managed through a partnership with the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program and the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
On a recent turtle walk, Kristen Kneifl, manager Archie Carr NWR, and volunteers Vince Lamb and John Boucher, and took the scouting and dispatch positions, and Uttridge gave the informative presentation.
Although anticipation was high, no loggerheads nested before the group dispersed around midnight. The good news was that the scouts saw quite a number of green sea turtles lumbering on shore to nest; the bad news was that because of their endangered status, those are off-limits to visitors.
As another way to encourage interest, the Sea Turtle Conservancy will host its fourth annual Tour de Turtles – A Sea Turtle Migration Marathon, the weekend of July 30 and 31.
The event begins with a kick-off social and auction Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Barrier Island Center.
On Sunday between 7 and 10 a.m., the public is invited to watch as researchers attach a satellite-transmitter to a loggerhead which will be released as part of the 2011 Tour de Turtles marathon.
People can also “adopt” a turtle and follow its migratory progress. For full details, visit www. tourdeturtles.org or call 321-723-3556.
“They’re not pretty, and they kind of smell, but they are such amazing creatures; they have this them against the world life,” said Uttridge. “They go it alone, swimming into unfriendly waters in the middle of the ocean. They live a solitary life; they just know everything they need to do in order to grow and survive, from the moment they hatch. It’s fascinating; the cycle is so fascinating to me. I feel strongly about doing something to keep this species from going extinct.”