The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge participated in a national summer youth employment program called the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC). Four local high school students were selected to work for 10 weeks on projects that promote awareness and appreciation of St. Croix’s natural resources.
Although the team spent a lot of time doing physical labor, such as grass cutting, painting and invasive plant removal, its main focus and much of the hard work revolved around sea turtle monitoring and conservation. The conservation team assisted staff with sea turtle nest excavations, morning track surveys, stranding response and even night patrols for nesting females.
On their last day of work this summer, the team was conducting a morning track survey. A track survey is when researchers walk a beach and record all of the sea turtle activities from the night before. The team observed a sea turtle track that came up out of the water and entered the coastal forest. They searched for an exit track but could not find one. After 15 minutes of searching in the forest, the team discovered a critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle in distress. She had crawled deep into the forest and was in an area of thick vegetation.
The team contacted Claudia Lombard, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the sea turtle stranding coordinator for the USVI. Lombard joined the team, and together they cleared a path in the forest from the turtle out to the beach. Then the turtle made her way out of the forest and back to sea.
If community members find sea turtles or hatchlings that are in distress, injured, sick, entangled or dead, they should call the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rescue (STAR) at 690-0474, immediately.
