Terry Meyer, who has marshalled the beach project for many years will be armed with a head full of turtle information and nesting history, as well as supplementary visuals during the sign-up sessions. It’s a great introduction for anyone who is new to sea turtles as well as a beneficial review for our veteran walkers.
In a nutshell (or sea shell) under the guidance of an area coordinator volunteers are assigned a day of the week and a section of Topsail beach to walk early in the morning before the tide comes in. They look for turtle tracks, a sign that a nesting mother has come ashore scanning for a place to lay her eggs. When a suspected nest has been located they work with their coordinator to verify and stake the area for our records and as a way of hopefully protecting it during the incubation period of approximately sixty days. Sometimes the nest has been laid where it’s too vulnerable to foot traffic or incoming tides and volunteers will assist in relocating it to a more suitable area. There’s always a friendly competition to see who will find the first nest and our walkers take great pride in their work as they continue to monitor the beaches and watch the nests accumulate over the summer months.
Nesting numbers can vary significantly from year to year under normal circumstances and it’s no secret that our beaches were extensively restructured when Florence hit last September. The three towns have been working diligently, pushing and trucking in sand to help rebuild the dune areas, the optimal place for our nesting mothers to deposit their eggs. This year will present a bit of a challenge to our turtles, but they’ve outlived the dinosaurs because of their persistence and adaptability. Our Topsail Turtle Project volunteers are their best hope for making sure every nest that manages to get laid on our beaches has the best chance to produce the next generation of these sweet and determined critters.
By Karen Soto, communications specialist at the sea turtle hospital
