By Susan Simpson, Director Cultural and Human Services

No experience necessary to volunteer for the Turtle Watch Network.  That’s right; all you need is a way to traverse the beach, an eye for tracks, and a big heart.  The City is looking for a great group of volunteers to assist Miami-Dade County with the efforts to keep sea turtle nests safe. 

With many we can accomplish a lot 
The more volunteers we have, the better job we will do in locating the turtle nests.  So what is the process?  Each morning, no earlier than as the sun rises, volunteers will scour the 2.5 miles of Sunny Isles Beach in search of signs of sea turtle nests.  What are the signs?  Quite simply, tracks.  The tracks that the sea turtles leave behind after burying their eggs in the sand and head back to sea.  Spot the tracks, follow the them westward and you will surely find a buried treasure of sea turtle eggs.  The more volunteers, the less area each volunteer needs to cover.  Working a rotating schedule, each volunteer will be assigned only 3 or 4 days per week. 

Do Not Disturb
As a volunteer, you will not be responsible for anything more than reporting the finding of a nest to Miami-Dade County.  Once reported, Bill Ahern from Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department will make his own tracks to the location and transport the eggs to the hatchery located at Haulover Park.  Here the eggs will safely hatch and later be released back into the ocean.

Goodwill to All
This project will benefit more than the nesting sea turtles and their young.  By performing this duty on a daily basis during nesting season, Miami-Dade County can get to the task of cleaning our beaches earlier each day.  This benefits all residents and visitors of our City by providing a cleaner, healthier environment for us all to enjoy.  You see, the process for daily beach cleaning is to first send someone out to look for sea turtle nests each morning before the cleaning equipment can be brought out.  With only one guy assigned to the entire 13 miles of beach operated by Miami-Dade County, this is a long and tedious process but a very necessary one.

Time to Get Started
So strap on your water shoes and  slip on your Turtle Watch Network member t-shirt and head out to a section of the beach that you can proudly call your territory where you can assure that nesting turtles will be well taken care of.  Give us a call at 305.792.1706 to sign up now and get started!