By Jeff Dennis
The beaches at Edisto welcome nesting loggerhead sea turtles each year, and must balance that presence with all the residents and tourists that also visit the beach. There are three separate turtle patrols: one for beaches inside the Town of Edisto, a second at Botany Bay Wildlife Management Area, and the Edisto Beach State Park.
Joining the Town of Edisto Beach patrol at dawn on July 26, I found out that they walk each day, and the gentle rain shower that drenched our clothes did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm.
Beginning at the pier, the public Town of Edisto Beach includes all of Palmetto Boulevard and Point Street. There are federal and local laws in place to protect sea turtles, and these are enforced with daily patrols by trained Edisto Beach volunteers.
The Town of Edisto Beach recently replaced all the streetlights along the beach with amber-color turtle friendly lights, using a $50,000-grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Kristi Summers is the SCDNR permit holder for sea turtle nest patrols for the Town of Edisto Beach. “The sea turtle nesting season started slow this year due to cooler temps at the start of May,” said Summers. “Our beach at Edisto is designated as an index beach by SCDNR, one with a long record of data, and so our daily walking commitment each turtle season runs from May 1 through October. This is my second year being the permit holder,” she said.
“The Town Beach is split into sections from A to G and each has a section leader,” said Summers. “The day of your visit we actually walked two sections, B and C includes everything from access 4 to access 16. Susan Porth is section leader for B and Patty Molnar is section leader for C. Most turtle activity, both nesting and hatching, occurs after dark so we patrol at dawn to look for telltale signs in the sand before the tide may erase them and before the most folks reach the beach and make footprints. On this day, we did not find any new nests, but we did see evidence of two nests that hatched overnight.”
By the end of July, the turtle nesting season is slowing down, but the turtle hatchling season is just starting to ramp up. As of July 26, the Town of Edisto Beach had 115 sea turtle nests. The public beach will need a flurry of nesting to reach the total number of nests from the past two years, when they had 164-nests in 2020 and 244-nests in 2019.
Fluctuations in the numbers of nests from year to year is normal.
Nests will be marked when they are found, and then monitored closer to the date they are to hatch after an incubation period of roughly 50 to 60-days.
“I have had a few encounters with mama sea turtles this year, but mainly that’s because when others see a turtle they often call and report it,” said Summers. “Every encounter is an opportunity to educate folks about not using any white lights on the beach, which are a distraction to turtles. Putting a red filter over your light is allowed however, and local businesses sell the filters. We can also remind folks to fill in any holes they find left on the beach at dark, because they can hinder turtle movement and cause them to get hung up.”
New volunteers are required to walk a full year in order to be properly trained. Trey Hanks is a volunteer who is in his third year of patrolling. “My first-year impressions are that the volunteers are serious about turtle patrol,” said Hanks. “I observed at first, but have since assisted in locating nests and with relocating nests if they were too close to the waterline. I am learning more about sea turtles than I ever thought I would, and pal around with Jay Watts who is also on turtle patrol. Jay explained that some view us as the ‘Crazy’ turtle people, but to us we are just being mindful of the natural world here at Edisto.”
For those motivated to join the turtle patrol for next year, visit FaceBook on the Edisto Beach Loggerhead Turtle Project page and send a message to receive more information.
