Jun 26, 2009

Tallahassee Museum summer campers made a thrilling discovery recently when they witnessed and documented an extremely rare Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle nesting on the beach at Bald Point State Park, in Franklin County.

Kemp’s Ridleys are the world’s most endangered sea turtle, and they almost never nest on Florida beaches.

The discovery, made by youngsters in the Tallahassee Museum’s “Outdoor Explorers” summer camp, was greeted with celebration by park managers and marine scientists who subsequently verified the identification of the turtle based on the children’s photographs. The photos also enabled park managers to locate and provide protection for the nest.

“Exciting news! We have confirmed a Kemp’s Ridley nest at Bald Point!” wrote John Lakich, park services specialist with Florida State Parks, in announcing the news to professional colleagues on June 12. “I received some great (photos) from the Tallahassee Museum’s Elizabeth Franklin. Her summer camp group witnessed the whole thing while on a field trip to Bald Point. … We have gone back and marked the nest location based on the photographs provided.”

The endangered sea turtles have been known to nest on Florida beaches only a few times over the past 15 years, choosing instead to nest collectively on an isolated beach in Mexico.

When informed of his summer campers’ amazing observation, Tallahassee Museum Executive Director and CEO Russell Daws cheered. "This clearly demonstrates the great value of the Museum's summer camp program and its abilities to get kids outdoors where they can make real discoveries in the real world,” Daws said. “Discoveries like these cannot be made in a classroom, movie theatre, or video-game and are often what influences a kid's future educational and career choices."

The Tallahassee Museum’s "Outdoor Explorers" summer campers, mostly young teen-agers, made the discovery while exploring the beach, observing and documenting their findings with instructor Elizabeth Franklin. As they explored, a sea turtle emerged from the sea, coming ashore to lay her eggs. While loggerhead sea turtles and others do nest on north Florida beaches, Ms. Waller and her pupils quickly realized that this turtle was not one they had observed before. Knowing to keep a respectful distance from the turtle and its nest, the young naturalists shot photographs to document their discover. Those photos have caused a stir in the sea turtle conservation world, prompting calls to the Tallahassee Museum from conservation groups all around the Gulf Coast.

“I thought it was a big horseshoe crab at first, but then we saw that it was a sea turtle,” said Katie Dickey, 15. “I knew they’re endangered and we’re not allowed to touch them. We all said, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance … and we took a lot of pictures. It was really exciting when we found out how rare these are.”

Youngsters in the Museum’s “Endangered Species” and “Adventures in the 19th Century” summer camps also visited the nesting site, under the tutelage of the campers who discovered it.

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