Joanne Ryan stands on the fresh tracks of a loggerhead in Highland Beach. Ryan manages the collecting of sea turtle nesting data and is an avid photographer. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Jan Engoren
Even before sipping her first predawn coffee eac
From outdoor movies and concerts, to green markets and nature hikes, we want to soak up as much open-air activity as possible before hurricane season settles in and the oppressive heat and humidity drive us indoors. Searching for ideas? Look no furth
OCEAN RIDGE — Harold E. Hollnagel, devoted family man and company founder, died April 17. He was 84.
Mr. Hollnagel was born to Harold and Esther Hollnagel on Dec. 22, 1937, in Milwaukee, and went on to become founder and CEO of Mechanical Industries
ABOVE: Lake Worth Beach resident Aaron Barnes, one of the founders of the local branch of the Surfrider Foundation, sorts through trash collected by volunteers at the cleanup and education event hosted by the Ocean Ridge Garden Club and the Town of O
Educational events at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center are back after COVID-19 precautions kept the center closed to the public for two years. Archelon, a 25-year-old loggerhead turtle, was released in front of a crowd of more than 100 on March 1 at Spanish
Hank Davis of Delray Beach rescued this green turtle while fishing along the beach in Briny Breezes. Photo provided
By Larry Keller
As if a green turtle dubbed Brontosaurus didn’t have enough obstacles to reaching old age — ingestion of and entanglem
FAU student Chase Donaghy enjoyed an afternoon of surfing at Red Reef Park. Tao Woolfe/The Coastal Star
By Tao Woolfe
Boca Raton’s Red Reef Park is a busy place in the late afternoon as beachgoers scoop up kids, towels and folding chairs for the trek
A volunteer monitor from Sea Turtle Adventures checks a nest on the beach in Ocean Ridge on Aug. 13. The nonprofit found 75 green turtle nests this year in Gulf Stream, Briny Breezes and part of Ocean Ridge. Mary Kate Leming/The Coastal Star
By Larr
By Steve Plunkett
The cost of rebuilding Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s observation tower has jumped $200,000, to $1.4 million, and there are signs that the long-awaited structure will be finished by next September.
But there are few details on the c
Children play in the Sea Turtle Garden. These life-size sculptures were created over several years by artist Colin Christian. The garden is dedicated to Gordon Gilbert, the nature center's founding director. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
After almost
Statewide honors include 9 first places
By Larry Barszewski
The Coastal Star took home 20 Florida Press Association awards during ceremonies July 16, including the top investigative prize for its coverage of Delray Beach’s troubled water system.
Jud
By Steve Plunkett
Replacement of Gumbo Limbo Nature Center’s seawater pumps and piping should begin soon following green lights in April from the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District and the Friends of Gumbo Limbo.
But funding the long-awaited
This dead loggerhead ingested more than 100 pieces of plastic it mistook for food. Photo provided by Gumbo Limbo
By Margie Plunkett
The tiny sea turtle, the size of the palm of your hand, had died after being washed back to shore this nesting season.
Sea turtle eggs were uncovered by rough seas that followed Hurricane Dorian and other tropical systems this fall. Photo provided by Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
By Rich Pollack
Despite the impacts of Hurricane Dorian and more recent high tides and rough
By Steve Plunkett
Work to rebuild the hugely popular observation tower at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which has been missing in action since early 2015, should begin in September.
The new tower will be constructed with composite wood decking, rath
Gordon Gilbert stands between the trunks of a gumbo limbo tree at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which he helped found in 1984 in Boca Raton. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
In the next several weeks, Gordon J. Gilbert, the
ABOVE: An orange-barred sulphur butterfly drinks nectar from a firebush. BELOW: Strangler figs line the path of the Ashley Trail. Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
It’s easy to find the Ashley Trail from the parking l
Caitlin Bovery, sea turtle rehabilitation assistant coordinator, records a video of Gumbo Limbo senior aquarist Keith Herman
and manager Leanne Welch as they dump plastic bottles into the center’s near-shore reef aquarium.
The bottles, 70 pounds’ wor
A least tern sits on eggs on the beach in Boca Raton.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission workers and Gumbo Limbo staff
make signs for a perimeter fence to deter beachgoers from walking on the nest.
The dappled color of the eggs is a go
Tuana Yazici (right), a Saint Andrew’s Upper School student, made a presentation to more than 50 kindergartners at Saint Andrew’s. She spoke about protecting sea turtles from plastic waste and explained how sea turtles are at great risk of being harm
