We are so pleased to tell you that our SCCF Adopt-a-Beach initiative has been very successful. With approximately 44% of our members participating, we have received $4200 in donations. Because we met the deadlines for the two matching grants, our total contribution is an impressive $10,400. What an accomplishment for our neighborhood! Upon hearing CSM’s level of support, Kelly Sloan, Director of Sea Turtle Conservation replied:
"Holy cow! I am completely blown away by the receptiveness and generosity of your neighborhood! It sounds like you have a really nice group that shares your love of coastal wildlife... your neighbors have united in supporting nature in words, action, and deed :)"
Just to refresh your memories, funds generated through the Adopt-A-Beach program go strictly to the sea turtle program and are not co-mingled with SCCF’s general fund. To support sea turtle research and conservation SCCF will use funds for things like: acquiring and training additional interns for research assistance and data analysis as well as for program supplies, including GPS units, measuring wheels, screening materials to deter predators, nest staking materials, educational signage, fuel for surveys, and a variety of miscellaneous supplies (buckets, mallets, data books, rakes, etc.). SCCF also uses the funds to purchase research supplies such as wildlife cameras to monitor coyote behavior around sea turtle nests.
Here is a turtle update from SCCF intern Heather Shipp on July 14: It's been a little quieter in terms of sea turtle activity for your neighborhood area, but we did have a false crawl today as well as two other crawls on Tuesday, July 11. All three of these tracks were from loggerhead sea turtles, and they may have already nested on a different section of beach or they might try again tonight.
Some of the nests in your neighborhood area are starting to approach the end of their incubation period and may hatch sometime within the next week or two. I will definitely let you know when this happens!
Chateaux Sur Mer's donation was delivered to SCCF today. Kelly Sloan had just returned from the beach, and was so pleased to receive our donation and to hear about our enthusiasm for “turtle news”. SCCF will continue to send us turtle updates—especially when nests begin to hatch on our beach! Thank you very much for your enthusiastic participation in the Adopt-a-Beach program. SCCF is so grateful for our help and support and we hope everyone in CSM takes pride in our collective accomplishment.
