February 2019 Turtle Tracks Newsletter

BOARD MEETING ONLY Monday Feb 4th 6:30 pm 1997 Long Beach Road Big Pine Key Moving forward in 2019, we will be hosting presenters for our General Membership meetings every other month. The public is invited to attend our Board Meetings. Our next General Membership meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 4th. www.Save-a-Turtle.org

February 2-3rd Pigeon Key Art Festival Marathon Community Park Sat 10-5 Sun 10-4 SAT will be at the Pigeon Key Art Festival. Come join us for some turtle talk, games and crafts for the kids, and check out our new video display. We have some great activities for the kids planned! Want to become a Beach Walker in the Fla Keys? Come talk to us about that too!

Cold Stunned Sea Turtles Warm Up in the Keys

READ MORE HERE

While this article is a few weeks old, it is totally worthy of mentioning here as the New England waters continue to freeze up with the brutal winter conditions facing the area in the coming weeks. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of the folks involved in saving these beautiful turtles. While it is uncommon to find cold stunned turtles here in the Keys, always be on the lookout for distressed or injured sea turtles.

A Touching Story: One by One

This past weekend while speaking to people at the Spanish Fly Music Festival, a young boy of 12-13 stopped by to talk to us and play our “Roll The Dice “ game. He was very interested in our sea turtles and we had quite a nice conversation. Afterwards, he OPENED HIS WALLET and put $1 in our donation bucket!!!! We were so touched! Imagine if this ONE boy cultivates his passion how this world can change, ONE child at a time. ONE by ONE. (cont. next column) BTW: this young boy's parents were at the festival, but not with him at our booth. He opened his wallet and his heart without his parents encouragement. We'd also like to give a shout out to members of the Monroe County Fire Dept who stopped by to visit us as well and had a blast playing our Dice Game too! Thank you for protecting our Islands every day. Flippers Up!

Nesting Season will be here soon... Sponsors Needed

Our volunteer beach walkers rise before the sun every single day to walk the islands beaches in search of sea turtle nests. Sounds like fun, right? Well it is...but it can also be a bit challenging. Unlike the wide open sandy beaches of the mainland, our beaches are much MUCH narrower and not so easy to walk as the terrain is much more complicated with all of the native plants, trees, the wrack line that seems to get larger every year, sea grass and oh, did I mention the lack of beach on super moon high tides? Yikes! BUT, we LOVE it and it pays off when you come across a

set of beautiful turtle tracks just after sunrise indicating a female came up to nest! Goosebumps galore! As we get ready for this years season,we are in need of supplies for our volunteers including stakes, safety tape, t-shirts, buckets, gloves and measuring tapes. Please consider sponsoring a beach walker for only $20. To show our thanks, we will send you a FREE 2019 Save-A-Turtle Calendar. Yes!  I will Sponsor a Walker for $20.

Interested in Becoming a Beach Walker?

IF you live in the Keys and would like to become a permitted nest surveyor, please email Sherri Crilly, SAT VP and Marine Turtle Permit Holder at rscrilly@verizon.net. FREE Mandatory Training will be held in Marathon on April 18th, 6:30-9:30 pm at the Government Center. Your training is valid for 2 years.

Report Sick, Injured or Dead Sea Turtles in Fla to FWCC at 888-404- FWCC

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