ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — As turtle nesting season approaches, the volunteers tasked with monitoring nests along Charlotte County’s coastline are concerned damage from Hurricane Helene and Milton could impact nest numbers this year.
Volunteers with the Coastal Wildlife Club in Englewood walk approximately 20 miles of the area’s coastline every morning from April 15 to Nov. 30. They look for turtle tracks and nests in the sand, then mark the nests and collect data like the species of turtle, number of eggs and depth of the clutch among other data points.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk's report on the Coastal Wildlife Club preparing for turtle nesting season:
“This information all goes back to a main database, and that's how we keep data not only statewide but globally,” said Jill Auman, who has volunteered with CWC’s Turtle Patrol for 14 years.
Auman said CWC has already identified potential issues for nesting season on Englewood Beach and other nearby beaches. Hurricanes Helene and Milton flooded the island with storm surge, washing away sand dunes and vegetation the turtles used to nest, which kept them from moving too far inland off the beaches.
“The lack of vegetation is going to be one of our biggest issues, also we still have quite a lot of debris on the beaches from riprap to seawalls to boats to trees, and that is going to pose an issue for the sea turtles,” said Auman. “Our dune system is gone too, so we really suspect we’re going to have turtles on the road this year.”
Additionally, without vegetation and dunes, more light pollution can disorient turtles looking to nest, as well as hatchlings looking for the water, said CWC board member and volunteer Carol McCoy.
“We’re really worried because of that, we’ll have sea turtles on the road out here and of course be killed,” said McCoy. “And each one of these turtles are 25-30 years-old before they can nest so they are extremely valuable to the population for perpetuating their species.”
Charlotte County has installed a black fence near the Englewood Beach parking lot to try and help cut down on the light pollution that makes it onto the beach.
Last year, according to CWC’s data, more than 4600 nests were found on Manasota Key in 2024. McCoy said despite the potential challenges for the nesting turtles this year, it’s impossible to predict exactly how much those factors will affect the number of nests. She said one way to help the nesting turtles is for beachgoers to be mindful of them.
“We need to have good beach habits,” said McCoy. “Fill in your holes, clean up after yourself, pack out what you brought in, and keep artificial light off the beach, which is going to be a challenge this year.”
To learn more about the Coastal Wildlife Club, and how to help their turtle conservation mission, CLICK HERE.
