Apalachicola Reserve Provides Turtle Season Awareness

The training and engagement team at the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve have finished distributing educational items ahead of sea turtle nesting season, which began earlier this month. Staff member Svetlana Vikhlyantseva visited several vacation rental companies with properties on St. George Island to provide items that help visitors and rental occupants understand more about the local coastal ecosystem. The information included local recreation locations, rip current safety tips as well as sea turtle window clings and other printed material on how to reduce the risks to nesting and hatchling turtles. Common problems sea turtles face from beachside rentals are disorientation from house and community lights and obstacles to nesting turtles or water-bound hatchlings made by man-made holes and forgotten or left behind beach gear. 

St. George Island is an important nesting location for sea turtles. Much of the island’s gulf-side coast is lined with vacation homes, many of which are occupied by visitors during nesting season. By providing these rental companies with window clings and informational handouts, they can keep their guests informed on the importance of sea turtle nesting and how to minimize their disturbance.