Back in the spring when Cape Hatteras National Seashore natural resources staff members were considering what modifications they could make to wildlife buffers to meet the requirements of legislation passed by Congress in December, they had no idea what they would be in for come mid-summer.
One of their modifications that became effective in mid-June was a change to how the Park Service protects sea turtles nests.
For most of the nests’ incubation, posts and string are erected around a 10-by-10 meter area to warn pedestrians and vehicles away. When the nests approach hatching, a dark filter fence is expanded to the ocean to make a corridor for the baby turtles.
If there is enough room behind the nests — between the dune and the nest — vehicles and pedestrians can bypass them that way. However, neither folks on foot nor ORVs have been allowed to pass in front of the nests — even on the hard sand between the end of the fencing and the water.
In some cases, this meant that long stretches of beach were closed to public access. For instance, a turtle seems to nest every year just east — to the left — of Ramp 49 in Frisco. When that nest got ready to hatch, it would be expanded and access to several miles of a beach that is very popular with locals and visitors would be closed for a week or 10 days or more in the middle of summer.
Under the modified plan, pedestrians and vehicles are permitted to pass in front of the expanded nest during daylight hours — as long as the Park Service has the manpower to rake the beach each evening before dark to smooth the way for hatchlings.
By the time the new buffers rules became effective, it was beginning to look like a really good sea turtle nesting season. However, it quickly became apparent that it would be a record nesting season for the seashore.
“We just had no idea what we were in for,” Randy Swilling, the seashore’s natural resource program manager agreed, in an interview this week. “It’s been stressful.”
So far this season, there are 289 sea turtle nests on the beaches — the latest one was discovered on Sept. 4. That’s 38 more than the record of 254 nests set in 2013.
Swilling said a few more nests might be discovered, but nesting has wound down for this year.
And not only are there more nests than usual, but they seem to be in a big hurry to hatch and they’re hatching earlier.
“They’re just popping everywhere,” says Swilling.
As of Sept. 8, 185 of the nests had hatched.
On average, nests on the seashore hatch at about 62 days of incubation. This year, one hatched as early as 48 days and there have been a whole string of them hatching after 50-some days.
For this, Swilling says, we can thank the hot summer with evenly spaced rain.
Under the leadership of new superintendent David Hallac, who is weathering his first nesting season at the seashore, the resources staff is pulling out all the plugs to make sure that the new buffers make a difference in public access to the beaches.
The new rules, which became effective in about the middle of the nesting season, didn’t greatly affect access at areas closed for bird nesting, but the new turtle buffers have been making a difference and will continue to do so into the fall.
Swilling is among those on the resource staff who have been out on the beach in the evening after work, raking away footprints and vehicle tracks before nightfall in front of nests on ORV routes.
“It’s going very smoothly,” Swilling says, “even though we’re short-staffed this year and we need staff from other divisions — folks who wouldn’t normally go out to do this on the beach.”
With the blessing of their supervisors, staff members from the visitor use and interpretive divisions have also pulled shifts with the rakes — for which they are paid overtime.
Swilling has also made it a point this summer to reach out with frequent e-mails to those who come into contact with beach drivers, such as tackle shop owners and employees, to keep them up-to-date on which beaches are open and closed and why.
He said this week he’s enjoyed getting away from the desk and out onto the beach. “I like working in the field,” he said.
“We’ve been able to keep much more beach open,” he said, adding that there has been a good deal of much appreciated cooperation, support, and complimentary e-mails from the community.
Now, we’re headed into the fall fishing season and surf-fishing tournament time, and Swilling’s e-mail to beach users this week was about using caution around turtle nests, especially those that are near hatching and expanded.
“The Park still has many sea turtle nests in the ground and several that are expanded in ORV routes,” he said. “Park staff are working extra hours to rake tire ruts in front of these nests to ensure continued access. With the fishing tournament starting up, please be vigilant while on the beach in the early evenings. Some of our nests have hatched in early evening (between 6-8 p.m.).
“While driving past turtle nest closures, please take a few extra moments to look ahead and ensure no hatchlings are in harm’s way, and be aware that Park staff will be out after dark raking.”
And it’s not only drivers on ORV routes that need to be vigilant about hatchlings, but pedestrians also should exercise caution — as should visitors who are staying in rental homes on the oceanfront.
While seashore staff members tend to nests on ORV routes, volunteers watch after the hatching nests in front of the villages.
Liz Browning Fox of Frisco has been one of those volunteers for about five years, and so far during this record nesting season, she has spent 60 hours herding baby turtles toward the ocean.
This week, she and fellow nest-sitter, Terri Poteet, were notified that park biotechs thought a nest in front of Hatteras village was close to hatching. On Wednesday evening, they arrived about 5:15 since so many of the nests have been hatching before dark.
They set up their chairs, had their rakes ready, marked off an area for spectators, and waited — and waited and waited. Finally, about 10:30, the nest started moving, and first one turtle, then another popped up out of the sand. Then they just began pouring out in what is known quite descriptively as a “nest boil.”
Folks renting nearby houses and passers-by began stopping early in the evening to see what was going on. By 10:30, Browning says, there were more than 60 enthralled onlookers.
The hatchlings — about 80 in all — began making their way down the corridor of dark filter fencing toward the water.
Then something definitely not good happened to the little ones. When they reached the end of the fencing, just in front of the incoming waves, they turned toward the glare coming off beachfront cottages and began heading toward the dunes.
The turtles will instinctively head toward the light after hatching, and on a natural beach, the lightest thing is usually the shimmering ocean. That’s not so in areas where there are houses.
The Park Service and local rental management companies have been working together to educate visitors who stay in the houses about the importance of turning off their lights. And some of them do just that.
Sometimes, Browning and other volunteers get to the nest early enough to speak with visitors in the big houses about light pollution. Most of them are happy to comply.
However, even if there are no outside lights on, the inside lights behind expanses of large glass windows can cause a great deal of light on the beach. Many of the houses don’t have shades or blinds. Some others do, but visitors don’t want to close them.
“Light pollution in the villages is just really a problem,” said Browning.
She and her partner managed to get the hatchlings turned in the right direction, which graphically illustrates the importance of the nest-sitting volunteers. If they had not been there Wednesday night, many — if not most of the baby turtles — would have been found dead and desiccated in the dunes the next day.
Browning said nest-sitting can really be exhausting on nights such as Wednesday — and not just from herding turtles. From the time she and Poteet arrived at 5:15 until the nest boil, they were answering spectators’ questions non-stop.
“There are always a lot of questions,” she said, “because people love sea turtles. Sea turtles are sexy.”
Browning and the others nest-sitters educate the public about more than sea turtle biology. They take the opportunity to talk to them about their role in the survival of the hatchlings.
Wednesday night’s visitors got a graphic lesson on the danger of light pollution to the little ones, but they also learned that they need to fill in holes that they dig during the day, remove tents and cabanas and other beach equipment each night, and tread carefully along the beach at night to watch out for hatchlings.
The volunteers don’t run out of things to talk about, Browning says.
“A lot of us who do turtles are also interested in the night sky, so I talk about the Milky Way and the constellations and things like that,” she said, noting that many visitors have never seen “that cloud in the sky” known as the Milky Way.
And she and Poteet, who are the eighth or ninth generation of their families to live on the island, talk about the old days on Hatteras and the island lifestyle, culture, and history.
Browning also said that large crowds can gather around the nests, and that crowd control can be an issue. The volunteers are asked to keep onlookers in a marked-off area, but as their numbers grow, that gets harder.
Most folks, she said, are really cooperative and willing to give others in the back of the crowd a chance to come forward and watch the boil.
She said she had one on the Frisco beach earlier this summer that was “just a real gift.” She had a “gut feeling” the nest would hatch before its “due date,” so she showed up about 6:10 p.m. The hatchlings started emerging about five minutes later.
It was a pleasant evening, a beautiful evening light, and a small crowd. With a rake in one hand to chase away ghost crabs and the help of visitors who counted the hatchlings, Browning managed to make a video of the event, which you can enjoy by clicking on the link at the end of this blog.
There are still 100 or so nests out there to hatch, so please, everyone be careful when you are on the beach at night — whether you are in a vehicle or on foot. If you come upon a nest on an ORV route, remember that many are hatching before dark.
Watch out for park personnel raking beaches. Fill the holes you have dug before you head in for the night, and take all of your gear off the beach with you.
And please, please, turn out your outdoors lights — and if you are on the oceanfront, close window blinds also. Not only will you help the turtles, but your neighbors who are night-sky watchers will be grateful.
Click here to watch a video by Liz Browning Fox of a nest boil on the South Beach in Frisco.
