It’s no secret that the Town of Kiawah Island’s Turtle Patrol is an important asset to not only the loggerhead sea turtles they support, but to the people of the island who value protecting wildlife and their fragile ecosystems.
Volunteers of the Turtle Patrol have the unique opportunity to monitor nests and hatchlings by marking and taking care of the nests they find along the beach.
Since 1973, hundreds of residents of Kiawah Island have participated in the Turtle Patrol program, which runs from May 1 to October 31 every year.
Trained by SCDNR, Kiawah Island sees about 200 to 400 turtle nests each season. In fact, since 2017, Kiawah Island has the densest nesting beach of all the developed beaches in South Carolina.
According to the Turtle Patrol, nests without a protection program have a low hatch rate, typically under 10%. Hatch rates on Kiawah, with help from the Turtle Patrol, are over 70%.
During the September 5 Town Council meeting, the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol was asking for the Town’s support for another initiative.
After the Kiawah Island Community Association gave their blessing and through the assistance of the Kiawah Conservancy, the Turtle Patrol was asking for the Town’s approval of sending a letter to constituents expressing support for a vitally important mission for the loggerhead sea turtle population.
For more than a decade, the Northern Recovery Unit Loggerhead DNA Project, headed by the University of Georgia Professor Dr. Brian Shamblin, has been responsible for research of the female turtle population along the beaches of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida.
The basis of the study is to extract maternal DNA from loggerhead sea turtle eggs to identify the individual female associated with each nest and develop a census of the nesting population. This research has identified over 10,000 unique females by egg samples taken from every single nest laid during a nesting season. Scientists have learned invaluable information about loggerhead nesting patterns along 1,000 miles of the southeast coastline through this study.
For example, it was through the Northern Recovery Unit Loggerhead DNA Project, that they were able to determine that Kiawah Island had the densest nesting area of all of South Carolina’s developed beaches.
Now, the project is in need of funding since it is no longer federally funded by a grant. On September 5, the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol asked the Town to support the letter that they wanted to send out via the Town’s e-newsletter in a fundraising effort for the project through the Kiawah Conservancy.
Since the Kiawah Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) organization, they will collect the funds to ultimately disseminate to the Northern Recovery Unit Loggerhead DNA Project through UGA.
Since the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol is a Town of Kiawah Island entity, they cannot participate in soliciting for donations, but they can support the effort through the Kiawah Conservancy. KICA has expressed support for the fundraising effort as well.
Lynne Sager, coordinator and permit holder for the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol, has been involved in the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol since 2002. She clarified that the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol wanted to support this fundraising effort by signing a letter on behalf of the Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol asking for donations from anyone who would be so inclined, and that this letter would be disseminated through the Town’s e-newsletter. As stated, both KICA and the Kiawah Conservancy signed the letter. The letter would be presented on Kiawah Conservancy letterhead.
The Town Council unanimously agreed to this effort and granted Sager with the responsibility of signing the letter on behalf of the Town to show their support. By October 1, the Northern Recovery Unit Loggerhead DNA Project needed to be funded at $40,000 in order to continue their research mission.