The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking for volunteers to help clean up the beach at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge on St. Croix in order to protect nesting sea turtles. Sandy Point hosts the largest nesting population of leatherback turtles in the northern Caribbean and the United States.
According to a statement from the FWS, it is now leatherback nesting season and cleaning the beach will help protect these turtles and other marine animals. Animals can mistake trash for food or become entangled in nets, ropes and fishing lines.
In an effort to minimize the amount of trash generated from the 8:30 a.m. Saturday event, volunteers are asked to please bring your own reusable water bottle and gloves. Cold water and trash bags will be supplied.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The service manages the 94 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System that encompasses more than 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas.
The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the federal aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.