Turtle Foundation Grant Award

In April of 2020 the North Captiva Sea Turtle Foundation received a grant for $12,832.19 from the Florida Sea Turtle Grants Program, which is funded by the sales of the sea turtle specialty license plate.

North Captiva Sea Turtle Foundation received the grant to support the purchase of an electric utility vehicle that would enable volunteers to continue their work of conservation, which includes monitoring sea turtle nesting activity along the gulf beaches of North Captiva during the sea turtle nesting season, which will benefit the Florida sea turtle.  North Captiva Sea Turtle Foundation was chosen for the award through a competitive application process that is open to coastal county governments, educational institutions and Florida-based nonprofit groups striving to improve the livelihood of sea turtles and conserve Florida habitats.

Launched in 1996, the “Helping Sea Turtle Survive” specialty license plate raises money for two important programs that benefit Florida sea turtles–the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Marine Turtle Protection Program and the Sea Turtle Grants Program, which distributes money back to the local level for turtle conservation projects.  It is the primary source of funding for Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Program. This year the Sea Turtle Grants Program recently awarded $340,439 to 20 different projects benefiting Florida sea turtles as part of the 2019-2020 grant funding cycle, and again, North Captiva Sea Turtle Foundation is pleased to report that we were one of those 20 recipients!

To learn more about the Sea Turtle Grants Program and the “Helping Sea Turtles Survive” specialty license plate, please visit www.helpingseaturtles.org.

The North Captiva Sea Turtle Foundation took ownership if it’s new Polaris EV Ranger UTV on September 4, 2020.  This was late in the turtle monitoring season, and the delay was due to, none other than the COVID-19 pandemic which delayed our final 501(c)(3) status.  Regardless, we are pleased to finally have the vehicle and wish to thank the Sea Turtle Conservancy for the grant, along with our initial financial donors, Adopt-A-Nest participants, Facebook followers, and many volunteers.  We will not only find it valuable in our turtle conservation efforts, but also in keeping our beaches clean and free of debris that could injure all wildlife, while also being environmentally responsible by reducing the dependence on fossil fuels.

We had many successes this year.  Our first year of Adopt-A-Nest fundraising program was a huge success for us.  Our goal was 40 nests to be adopted and we surpassed that by 150% with a total of 60 nests adopted.  It was fun to see the brightly painted turtle signs along the beach as we monitored daily and it drew much attention to our endeavor.  We had a record number of crawls and nests this year, with a record number of green turtle nests for North Captiva Island.  We were able to help in the transport on two different occasions of injured hatchlings to CROW (Center for Rehabilitation of Wildlife) on Sanibel Island, where the hatchlings were kept safely until they were able to be released back into the wild.

Again, we cannot thank the Florida Sea Turtle Grants Program enough for helping us in our passion to help the sea turtle, and we urge everyone to make a difference by checking out their website and if you can, make a purchase of the sea turtle license plate.