Saving Endangered Baby Turtles in Brunswick Islands, North Carolina

A popular North Carolina vacation spot, the Brunswick Islands aren’t just a destination for families or beach lovers. They’re also an important breeding ground for loggerhead turtles — with a result that’s so cute it deserves its own article. The best part? They welcome volunteers to contribute to the survival of these endangered baby turtles!

Contrary to some legends, turtles don’t always return to the same beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. Still, DNA testing has revealed that many of the turtles born on the beaches between Sunset Beach and Southport make their nests somewhere along the Brunswick Islands, some laying eggs on three different beaches in one breeding season between February and May. That same testing has demonstrated that a momma turtle, plus her mother and grandmother, all laid eggs on Ocean Isle Beach in one year, demonstrating the resilience of the species and the importance of local turtle conservation efforts.

Each beach town maintains its own group of volunteers who tend to the loggerheads, all under the auspices of the North Carolina Wildlife Commission. Deb Allen is the Island Coordinator of the Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization (OIBSTPO). She leads a team of volunteers carrying out various duties to help ensure the species’ success.

“We’ve got a dedicated bunch of volunteers,” explains Deb. “Each island’s group follows the rules as they pertain to the NCWC, and each permit holder puts their teams together to do what works best for their community.” While most of the work takes place between February, when the turtles come close to the beach to chase their favorite food (jellyfish), and early October, when the last nests hatch, there’s plenty to do year-round.

An excellent job for retirees who flock to the Brunswick Islands, volunteers can opt to patrol the beach on morning walks or ATVs. They search for signs that a mother turtle has laid a nest in the sand on the edge of the dunes, verify the health and safety of nests, and check for dangers like high tides approaching the nest or evidence of potential predators.

Even though a single turtle nest can contain more than a hundred eggs, the odds are still stacked against the hatchlings. Only one in a thousand survive to adulthood. “One of the biggest problems is plastic in the ocean,” Deb shares, sadly. “Just about every sick turtle we find has plastic in their stomach, having mistaken it for a jellyfish or plant life. It fills their stomach, so they don’t have room to eat enough to stay healthy.”

Other dangers loom on land. Peter Maguire, another volunteer for OIBSTPO, explains a particular difficulty on Ocean Isle Beach: “We’ve got a fox problem!” His team of volunteers tries to stave off the wily foxes who love to snack on turtle eggs by staking out the site of nests and burying a wire mesh over the small hole to prevent digging. Finally, they surround the nest with edging and netting to prevent access from outside.

“We know there’s a really big male fox on the island, and we’ve found at least five dens,” says Deb. “It’s hard to outfox a fox, especially because they’re cute and people want to feed them. This leads to food aggression and a lack of fear of humans.”

Once a nest is established, watch teams visit every night, starting 45 days after the eggs were laid — the first time the hatchlings might emerge in a “boil.” Seeing scores of tiny turtles digging their way out of the sand is a magical experience.

Volunteers set up chairs and visit with neighbors while they wait for the lucky night, but they also stay busy digging a safe path in the sand from the nest down to the ocean and lining the edge of the trough with fencing to help guide hatchlings to safety. This also keeps visitors from getting too close to the natural process.

Additionally, the fencing helps shield the baby turtles from other significant dangers: lighting that might distract them from taking a path down to the surf. Peter explains, “Turtles instinctually go toward the brightest thing they can see. That might be the ocean foam, the moon, or twinkling stars.” Unfortunately, it might also be the back porch light on the back side of a beach house on the other side of the dunes.

“People think they need bright white lights for safety,” bemoans Deb, “but it can be done with amber lights or shielded fixtures. We need universal lighting regulations, but we have rules for new builds within 300 feet of the frontal dunes. Loggerheads are an endangered species, so we have to report it to the state when a home causes misorientation. Unfortunately, we lost 252 babies to misorientation last year. We can see where they ended up by the tracks and whether they got into the street or were taken by crabs or a fox.”

Peter offers a solution, explaining, “We politely ask homeowners to turn off their outdoor lights when we’re watching a nest. We also have a ‘Lights Out’ initiative where we provide turtle-safe lights and fixtures to homeowners free of charge.”

The OIBSTPO pays for these light giveaways by raising money through nest sponsorships. Donors can adopt a nest and display a sign with a company name or commemorate a person or an event. Sponsorships are also available to support the organization’s ongoing operations and benefit the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Hospital in Surf City, NC, where sick turtles can recover and hopefully be released back into the ocean.

Another volunteer activity is nest excavation after the hatchlings have emerged. The groups gather to check to see if there are still a few stragglers that need assistance getting out to sea, and they count eggshells (unhatched eggs) to report the hatching details to the state. One turtle from every nest contributes DNA samples to help track the diversity of the population and determine where in the standard three- to five-year nesting cycle the mother turtle is.

While turtle-watching is a great volunteering opportunity for retirees, kids can also get involved. In addition to taking one full-time college intern per summer to work with the OIBSTPO, the organization also welcomes visitors ages 13-18 who would like to serve as Junior Interns. “Anyone can volunteer,” promises Deb. “Over the course of a week, they’ll get to do everything we do. They can walk the beach to verify nests, sit up to wait for an emergence, and help out with our weekly Turtle Talks at the OIB Community Center on Mondays.”

Some beaches hide their turtle nests from visitors to keep them safe, but the Brunswick Islands actively encourages participation and education. Deb explains, “We feel like the only way you can gain more wildlife warriors with a passion for turtles is to teach them about the plight of sea turtles. When they see how cute these babies are and how they’re not so different from people or other animals, they get so excited!”

Enjoying a week in paradise while helping to save an endangered species? That sounds like a perfect vacation to us!

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