By Cheryl Blackerby
The first turtle nest of the season was a loggerhead nest found at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park in Stuart the week before turtle season was set to officially start March 1.
“More turtles will be coming at any time now,” said Kirt Rusenko, marine conservationist at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
Turtle nest volunteer spotters and coastal buildings’ groundskeepers were looking out for other early turtles in late February, and they will step up their efforts in March, particularly before sand dredging starts.
Dredging for a beach renourishment project on the north Boca Raton beach is expected to start in late March, well into turtle nesting season. “Every nest in that area will have to be moved before they start,” Rusenko said.
A beach renourishment project in south Boca Raton, which was completed Dec. 9, left escarpments too high for turtles to nest.
“We’ve got a bulldozer out there now knocking down escarpments so turtles can get on the beach. It will be done by March 1,” he said.
Last year was a record year for the 5-mile beachfront in Boca Raton, with 1,178 nests. The 331 green turtle nests were more than double the previous year. There were 834 loggerhead nests, and 12 leatherback nests.
The high nest numbers last year are believed to be the result of conservation work started in the 1970s for green turtles, particularly the efforts of Ross Witham, the marine turtle coordinator for the Florida Department of Natural Resources from 1963 to 1987. He started some of the earliest and longest-running sea turtle nest monitoring and nest protection programs in the U.S.
“We’re about a generation later, and I think we’re seeing some of the results from his work,” said Rusenko. It takes green turtles about 30 years to reach sexual maturity. They can live 80 to 100 years or longer.
The Gumbo Limbo Nature Center will celebrate the start of turtle nesting season March 1 with the ninth annual Sea Turtle Day Festival, which will feature live animal presentations, tank feedings, children’s theater, guided tours and sea turtle rehabilitation. Entrance is free with a suggested donation of $5 per person. There is free parking in Spanish River Park with a free shuttle to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
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