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Educating the Public and the Tourists
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As a first step, the Group acknowledges the importance of teaching the local children respect for nature, sound principles of preservation, and environmental accountability. To meet this goal we conducted a variety of environmental classes, workshops and field projects for young people ages 7 to 17. These classes are taught by University students from South and Central America.
The Group has also conducted numerous community and wild land clean-up campaigns and other outreach programs geared to improve the public health and welfare. |
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Overtime, other programs such as EntreAmigos have taken over the education of the public.
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July through November the public may enjoy a visit to our marine turtle nursery in San Pancho on American Latina. Hatchlings are released in front of town at sundown between mid-November and mid-February.
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The first time I set eyes on San Pancho was in mid-November of 1991 when I and four other friends drove 1,425 miles to San Pancho from California to visit a long time resident of Idyllwild, Judith Anderson. She had moved to San Pancho two years earlier to join a friend. During our ten day visit they told us a sad story concerning the local Marine turtles. The story was short and chilling. At the time nearly 95% of all marine turtle nests were being dug up for food or sale, and of the 5% that remained most were destroyed by dogs who would dig up the nests and eat or later eat the hatchlings as they reached the surface. To make the story even more chilling when we were told that the three local restaurants were killing up to as many as five turtles each year to B-B-Q and/or were selling turtles eggs.
Scott, one of the five other visitors, and I hatched a plan to return to San Pancho in early June of 1992 and start a program to protect marine turtles, with the idea of turning the program over to the local community as soon as it was up and running. When we returned in early June, Judith with help from a friend built a small nursery and let us live in there home while they escaped the heat north of the border.
Before they left we were told that if we were lucky we might find about ten nests during the entire summer. That first night we hit the beach only to find dozens of empty nest holes. Apparently there were about 36 other nest hunters on the six beaches, and they knew what they were doing. In a period of two weeks we were only able to find a small handful of nests. It seemed hopeless at the time.
After two weeks of walking the beach we realized that we were outnumbered, and didn’t know what the hell we were doing! Later Scott and I came up with the idea of putting my 4x4 Mazda pickup on the beach to outrun our competition. The pickup did extremely well on the beach as we took off from the north end driving south towards town. When we reached the area of the malecón about fifteen kids and their dogs came running after us. We were able to outrun them, at least for now.
When we returned to the area of the malecón a wall of kids and their dogs stopped us dead in our tracks. At this time there were only six old junk cars in town. For the kids riding in a pickup on the beach was a luxury. So the kids joined us in the back of the pickup including all their dogs. The big kids sat on the tailgate and the small fry were crammed up against the camper window. Loaded and ready to go we headed north and within 100 yards we found our first nests. We asked several kids to guard the nest, but the reply was …..no way! So we had to pull two kids off the tailgate and set them down by the nesting turtle, but the kids jumped back on the tailgate as we moved on. We had to return them to the nest again. Within another 100 yards we found one more turtle nesting.
During the first week Juan Flores and his sons joined our effort to preserve the marine turtles. After 28 years the Flores family is still helping us to this day.
Within a month we were able to cover all six beaches with the help of the kids, with very little poaching to boot. By the end of the year the kids were digging up the nests and placing them in the nursery. Although by now the poachers and local restaurants were beginning to push back, especially when they were told that poaching had been totally illegal since 1990.
In late 1992 the group had a membership grown to about 27 members. It was decided that we should become a “Mexican Nonprofit Civil Association.” With that settled, I left for the States, planning to return to Puerto Vallarta in April 1993 of the next year when our new Association’s constitution was to be signed at the notary public.
A month after the officers and board members signed the constitution we held our first meeting to correct some earlier problems. During our meetings we actively planned many different environmental projects with detailed steps to complete them. The members worked together to plan, vote on and achieve what they wanted. As a group of 27 members we began a regular program to clean all the beaches, as well as the streets in town and the river bed, not just once but every week, and for the first time ever. We helped rebuild both plazas and conducted environmental seminars for adults and weekly environmental classes for children, plus put up hundreds of signs to stop illegal dumping, planted thousands of hardwood trees, among many other things.
The Group’s community environmental projects were making a big change. There was only one remaining problem - poaching of the marine turtle nests. To solve this problem the members felt that education of the community’s children was the best and only solution, and they were totally correct.
Environmental classes were held on the beach, twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, 9 to 12 AM. It was necessary to have at least seven mother’s help supervise each class of 70 different kids. For a kid in town these classes were the only public activity they truly enjoyed. Our plan to stop poaching was creative. At each class we brought a small basket of hatchlings. The kids and mothers fell in love with them and both kids and mothers pledged they would never eat an egg or turtle meat again.
Their pledge not to eat turtle eggs broke the backs of the ongoing nest harvesting. Two-thirds of the town’s people had been collecting nests for their families. But since no one in their families was interested in eating the eggs the fathers quit. This left about a dozen hardcore poachers on the beach. These poachers consisted of thieves, alcoholics, drug users, and mostly young men that had no family in town. We whittled this mob down to a few. Today only 4% of the nests are destroyed by poachers.
About two months into the classes I realized that we had a serious problem. The members and mothers that were teaching the classes had little knowledge of the eco-preservation, and ecology in general.. Except for learning not to eat turtle eggs they were learning little else. In looking for help I turned to the universities. I contacted Erik Saracho, a Mexican professor of environmental science who agreed to teach the classes for a small fee. Our environment classes went from a day-care-level to college level education overnight. Erik later moved into San Pancho and helped Virgilio with his Jaguar preservation program.
At the beginning of the second season the three local restaurants placed an article in a large newspaper accusing us of poaching with the blessing of the government. The members of the group were outraged and asked the editor of the paper to come to San Pancho for lunch and see for himself that it was the restaurants doing the poaching. The next day, after lunch, the editor placed a full front page retraction on the front page of his newspaper denouncing the three restaurants as liars and being the true poachers.
Also by the end of the second season the poachers began to push back. They sent out word that if we went out on the beach again they would slash our tires and gouge out our eyes out with a knife. At once the members stopped going to the beach and told me to do the same. This is serious they said. No way was I going to let the poachers intimidate me. I had several kids guard my pickup and went out on the beach with only a pair of shorts, few plastic bags, a flashlight and a probing rod. For some reason I did not see a single poacher for over a month. It was puzzling, why? Later a member came up with the answer. It was said that I was carrying a gun and if anyone approached me in the dark on the beach, I would have blown them away, which of course was simply not true.
In 1994 I asked the Costa Azul Hotel if they would allow me to give the hotel guests a weekly slide show presentation. I was told by the manager that because I was not a marine biologist I was not qualified. Two years later when the Coastal Conservation Foundation from the USA arrived in San Pancho as volunteers and asked the manager the same question, they were given permission on the spot. After three and a half year's work with the marine turtles I was not qualified, but members of the CCF were given permission even though they had never seen a live marine turtle!!!
After CCF left San Pancho at the end of that season I was finally allowed to give the presentation, but after I complained that the hotel was dumping raw sewage on the beach and on the hillsides, I was kicked out of the hotel after several years of presentations. I was notified that I was not welcome within the hotel grounds again. In April 2001 our slideshow presentation had moved to Gallo’s Pizza Restaurant. Eventually the presentations at Gallo’s took on a festive atmosphere. We received free drinks and dinners.
In May 1994 the group had accomplished many environmental projects and in April it was time to elect new officers and board members. The election was carried out and I was elected president….. not what I wanted. The former president resigned the next day, but Judith remained with the Group for many years after.
After the election we were told that the results had to be recorded by a notary public, and he needed to send the documents on to the State and Municipal Governments to be signed. At first it sounded like an easy job. The notary public asked us for all the documents of our past meetings, the minutes of the meetings, signatures of the members in attendance, the quorum, etc., etc. Say what? Nemorio had not kept a single record of any meetings because he couldn’t read or write at all……
With an understanding chuckle the notary public said that we were not a legal Mexican Nonprofit Association. I asked the notary public what we could do to correct this mistake, and his reply was simple. Go back and conduct a meeting, record the minutes of the meeting, especially the election, and have all the members present sign the minutes. State that there was a quorum present, read the minutes of the last meeting, and return this information to him. Within two months the problem was corrected and I became the first president of the Group.
In 1994 we started the community’s first recycling project run by the kids of the environment classes. Although we encountered one serious problem when we tried find someone to purchase the materials.
In 1994 we opened a new marine nursery on the Nuevo Vallarta beach and put Coastal Conservation Foundation to work there. Nacho Piño was the director of the La Cruz de Huanacaxtle Marine Research Lab and was also responsible for our new nursery, which the members felt was a good plan.
When they finished explaining their plans, I gave them the bad news, the former President was no longer a member of the group, he had resigned, and I had been elected the new president. They were shocked. I told them that if they wanted to work with us they would be our volunteers, follow our instructions, keep our records, and work alongside our members and other volunteers. Their answer was no! Later that night Dan, one of the CCF members, came to my house. They were sorry for the abrupt no, and they would like to join us that coming summer.
In may of 1995 members of the Coastal Conservation Foundation wanted to establish their own nursery on the Punta Raza beach. We gave them our blessing, wished them good luck and told them we would help if needed. Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. PhD one of the CCF is today’s world leaders in the preservation of the marine turtle. This is something we are very proud to have been a part of.
Scott, one of the five other visitors, and I hatched a plan to return to San Pancho in early June of 1992 and start a program to protect marine turtles, with the idea of turning the program over to the local community as soon as it was up and running. When we returned in early June, Judith with help from a friend built a small nursery and let us live in there home while they escaped the heat north of the border.
Before they left we were told that if we were lucky we might find about ten nests during the entire summer. That first night we hit the beach only to find dozens of empty nest holes. Apparently there were about 36 other nest hunters on the six beaches, and they knew what they were doing. In a period of two weeks we were only able to find a small handful of nests. It seemed hopeless at the time.
After two weeks of walking the beach we realized that we were outnumbered, and didn’t know what the hell we were doing! Later Scott and I came up with the idea of putting my 4x4 Mazda pickup on the beach to outrun our competition. The pickup did extremely well on the beach as we took off from the north end driving south towards town. When we reached the area of the malecón about fifteen kids and their dogs came running after us. We were able to outrun them, at least for now.
When we returned to the area of the malecón a wall of kids and their dogs stopped us dead in our tracks. At this time there were only six old junk cars in town. For the kids riding in a pickup on the beach was a luxury. So the kids joined us in the back of the pickup including all their dogs. The big kids sat on the tailgate and the small fry were crammed up against the camper window. Loaded and ready to go we headed north and within 100 yards we found our first nests. We asked several kids to guard the nest, but the reply was …..no way! So we had to pull two kids off the tailgate and set them down by the nesting turtle, but the kids jumped back on the tailgate as we moved on. We had to return them to the nest again. Within another 100 yards we found one more turtle nesting.
During the first week Juan Flores and his sons joined our effort to preserve the marine turtles. After 28 years the Flores family is still helping us to this day.
Within a month we were able to cover all six beaches with the help of the kids, with very little poaching to boot. By the end of the year the kids were digging up the nests and placing them in the nursery. Although by now the poachers and local restaurants were beginning to push back, especially when they were told that poaching had been totally illegal since 1990.
In late 1992 the group had a membership grown to about 27 members. It was decided that we should become a “Mexican Nonprofit Civil Association.” With that settled, I left for the States, planning to return to Puerto Vallarta in April 1993 of the next year when our new Association’s constitution was to be signed at the notary public.
A month after the officers and board members signed the constitution we held our first meeting to correct some earlier problems. During our meetings we actively planned many different environmental projects with detailed steps to complete them. The members worked together to plan, vote on and achieve what they wanted. As a group of 27 members we began a regular program to clean all the beaches, as well as the streets in town and the river bed, not just once but every week, and for the first time ever. We helped rebuild both plazas and conducted environmental seminars for adults and weekly environmental classes for children, plus put up hundreds of signs to stop illegal dumping, planted thousands of hardwood trees, among many other things.
The Group’s community environmental projects were making a big change. There was only one remaining problem - poaching of the marine turtle nests. To solve this problem the members felt that education of the community’s children was the best and only solution, and they were totally correct.
Environmental classes were held on the beach, twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday, 9 to 12 AM. It was necessary to have at least seven mother’s help supervise each class of 70 different kids. For a kid in town these classes were the only public activity they truly enjoyed. Our plan to stop poaching was creative. At each class we brought a small basket of hatchlings. The kids and mothers fell in love with them and both kids and mothers pledged they would never eat an egg or turtle meat again.
Their pledge not to eat turtle eggs broke the backs of the ongoing nest harvesting. Two-thirds of the town’s people had been collecting nests for their families. But since no one in their families was interested in eating the eggs the fathers quit. This left about a dozen hardcore poachers on the beach. These poachers consisted of thieves, alcoholics, drug users, and mostly young men that had no family in town. We whittled this mob down to a few. Today only 4% of the nests are destroyed by poachers.
About two months into the classes I realized that we had a serious problem. The members and mothers that were teaching the classes had little knowledge of the eco-preservation, and ecology in general.. Except for learning not to eat turtle eggs they were learning little else. In looking for help I turned to the universities. I contacted Erik Saracho, a Mexican professor of environmental science who agreed to teach the classes for a small fee. Our environment classes went from a day-care-level to college level education overnight. Erik later moved into San Pancho and helped Virgilio with his Jaguar preservation program.
At the beginning of the second season the three local restaurants placed an article in a large newspaper accusing us of poaching with the blessing of the government. The members of the group were outraged and asked the editor of the paper to come to San Pancho for lunch and see for himself that it was the restaurants doing the poaching. The next day, after lunch, the editor placed a full front page retraction on the front page of his newspaper denouncing the three restaurants as liars and being the true poachers.
Also by the end of the second season the poachers began to push back. They sent out word that if we went out on the beach again they would slash our tires and gouge out our eyes out with a knife. At once the members stopped going to the beach and told me to do the same. This is serious they said. No way was I going to let the poachers intimidate me. I had several kids guard my pickup and went out on the beach with only a pair of shorts, few plastic bags, a flashlight and a probing rod. For some reason I did not see a single poacher for over a month. It was puzzling, why? Later a member came up with the answer. It was said that I was carrying a gun and if anyone approached me in the dark on the beach, I would have blown them away, which of course was simply not true.
In 1994 I asked the Costa Azul Hotel if they would allow me to give the hotel guests a weekly slide show presentation. I was told by the manager that because I was not a marine biologist I was not qualified. Two years later when the Coastal Conservation Foundation from the USA arrived in San Pancho as volunteers and asked the manager the same question, they were given permission on the spot. After three and a half year's work with the marine turtles I was not qualified, but members of the CCF were given permission even though they had never seen a live marine turtle!!!
After CCF left San Pancho at the end of that season I was finally allowed to give the presentation, but after I complained that the hotel was dumping raw sewage on the beach and on the hillsides, I was kicked out of the hotel after several years of presentations. I was notified that I was not welcome within the hotel grounds again. In April 2001 our slideshow presentation had moved to Gallo’s Pizza Restaurant. Eventually the presentations at Gallo’s took on a festive atmosphere. We received free drinks and dinners.
In May 1994 the group had accomplished many environmental projects and in April it was time to elect new officers and board members. The election was carried out and I was elected president….. not what I wanted. The former president resigned the next day, but Judith remained with the Group for many years after.
After the election we were told that the results had to be recorded by a notary public, and he needed to send the documents on to the State and Municipal Governments to be signed. At first it sounded like an easy job. The notary public asked us for all the documents of our past meetings, the minutes of the meetings, signatures of the members in attendance, the quorum, etc., etc. Say what? Nemorio had not kept a single record of any meetings because he couldn’t read or write at all……
With an understanding chuckle the notary public said that we were not a legal Mexican Nonprofit Association. I asked the notary public what we could do to correct this mistake, and his reply was simple. Go back and conduct a meeting, record the minutes of the meeting, especially the election, and have all the members present sign the minutes. State that there was a quorum present, read the minutes of the last meeting, and return this information to him. Within two months the problem was corrected and I became the first president of the Group.
In 1994 we started the community’s first recycling project run by the kids of the environment classes. Although we encountered one serious problem when we tried find someone to purchase the materials.
In 1994 we opened a new marine nursery on the Nuevo Vallarta beach and put Coastal Conservation Foundation to work there. Nacho Piño was the director of the La Cruz de Huanacaxtle Marine Research Lab and was also responsible for our new nursery, which the members felt was a good plan.
When they finished explaining their plans, I gave them the bad news, the former President was no longer a member of the group, he had resigned, and I had been elected the new president. They were shocked. I told them that if they wanted to work with us they would be our volunteers, follow our instructions, keep our records, and work alongside our members and other volunteers. Their answer was no! Later that night Dan, one of the CCF members, came to my house. They were sorry for the abrupt no, and they would like to join us that coming summer.
In may of 1995 members of the Coastal Conservation Foundation wanted to establish their own nursery on the Punta Raza beach. We gave them our blessing, wished them good luck and told them we would help if needed. Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. PhD one of the CCF is today’s world leaders in the preservation of the marine turtle. This is something we are very proud to have been a part of.
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In 1996 the National Green Party of Mexico gave the group a used Volkswagen dune buggy. This vehicle could travel the entire beach in 20 minutes which caused the poachers to give up the hunt and for the most part stay off the beach. Nevertheless the entire dune buggy is expensive to maintain and it has been completely rebuilt twice-over due to rust. Except for the ongoing fight with the poachers, most everything else went very well up until August 1998 when El Niño and its never ending rains destroyed 90% of our nests within the beach nursery. To find a solution to this problem several members and I drove up to SEMARNAT in Tepic to see what we could do to stop this loss.
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Their suggestion was different but doable. We were to place half the nests within a single beach nursery as we had done in the past. The other half in Styrofoam boxes to be incubated within a greenhouse nursery. To help us get started SEMARNAT would send a young lady to give us detailed instructions.
In 1999 we built our first 144 box nursery with a small beach nursery beside it. It was located a safe distance behind the beach. By July both nurseries contained nine nests, although when the first nests within the box nursery began to hatch, the survival rate was well within the high 90% range, while all the nests within the beach nursery failed. It was at that point that I decided to never place another nest on the beach again. Up to 2002 the box nursery behind the beach had been lengthened and improved several times while our methods of box hatching had greatly improved over the years.
With the new box nursery in full operation we were able to close down the one remaining beach nursery. Although by 2005 we were running out of free space in the box nursery and once again began placing a few nests back on the beach, but this time without a fence to protect them. It didn’t take long for the dogs to find the nesting area and start eating the hatchlings again. To protect these nests Joslin, Summer and Starlie spent many nights sleeping in the area. In 2008 with an ever increasing number of nests we had to again rebuild a new beach nursery.
The group began to be concerned about land use problems. National and multi-national land developers pressed for adoption of what professionals have called one of the worst designed environmental land use plans in recent history. At the heart of this ill-designed plan was a singular quest for high-density building that would allow hotels, condominiums, and tract homes along the now sparsely populated coast between Punta de Mita and Lo de Marcos, in the State of Nayarit, a continuation of Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. What is lacking is a plan for a better system of roads and consideration for native wildlife including adequate open spaces and wildlife corridors both inland and along the coast. Even the last sections of virgin jungle are on the chopping block slated for high-density building
In 1999 we joined forces with a Sayulita Environmental group. Our plan at the time was to invite Dr. Alberto Székely, an international environmental legal consultant and lawyer along with the general public to attend a meeting in November to open dialogue on ways to speed up the process of completing the "Environmental Zoning and Ecological Land Use Planning Program". Later Dr. Alberto Székely filed a "Demanda" or law suite charging the Government with non-compliance of federal environmental laws, “Article 19 of Mexico’s General Environmental Act” or the "Environmental Zoning and Ecológical Land Use Planning Programs". In turn the suit caused the moratorium on all construction within environmentally sensitive areas.
It was the State of Nayarit fearing that any type of Land Use Planning Act would hamper their ability to raise revenue from future development located along the coast of Nayarit that killed our hopes for strong regulations which was designed to restrict out-of-control developments of the coast of Nayarit.
By December 2001 the Group's “Homeowners Directory” was published for the first time and had become a hot item with over 75 copies sold the first winter. This directory is still produced and given to our contributors today in return for their donation and support.
In September of 2000, we where still without a telephone, although that year we received our first e-mail address [email protected]. Within the coming months Lee Miracle, a good supporter of the Group, had rebuilt an older web site. When it was finished and running it was called www.tortuga.org and it's e-mail address was [email protected]. By October 2001 Lee completed a mock-up of our new web site, http://www.vallartaonline.com; including a do-it-yourself or fill-in application page, in English and Spanish. In late 2001 we received our first telephone.
In September 2002 Jeff Silverman helped us rebuild and slowly phase out our older websites over the coming four months. He replaced it with a new email address and website <[email protected]> and <www.project-tortuga.org> as it is today.
It was ten o’clock in the morning on the 25th of October, 2002 when we received the first news of a possible hurricane off our coast. A quick look at the Internet confirmed that indeed, a category 5 hurricane the size of the Gulf of Mexico was heading our way. It was 500 miles away and was expected to hit our coast within 24 hours with winds over 160 mph. Our first thought was for the safety of the 110 nests within the box nursery, but after watching the reports from the National Hurricane Center, we realized that not only was the nursery in danger, but everything in the hurricane’s path.
David and I spent several hours that morning warning people in town, then packed up our personal effects in plastic bags and stored them in safe places. When the time came, we planned to ride out the storm in the smallest room in my house. At sundown we drove my truck across the open fields (which is Las Olas now) to the back of the box nursery on the beach and cut the chain link fence. By three in the morning we had removed all 110 nest boxes to the safety of my living room floor. When Geno, David and I returned for the third load of the equipment - the tables, chairs, empty boxes, shovels, rakes, light bulbs, pens, clipboards, plastic bags, probing rods, etc. – the conditions had changed for the worst. There was now over four feet of water in the depression behind the nursery. It was a sad ordeal. Aside from the total loss of all our good equipment within the box nursery, it was my second home and it’s lights were still on inside.
By 9:30 AM the full brunt of Hurricane Kenna hit us with 70 to 90 mph winds. The roar of the storm sounded as if 20 freight trains were rolling through town at once. In less than an hour it was over and those people who had not been evacuated began to adventure outside their homes. Almost every large tree in the area had lost limbs, with many uprooted, while almost every road in town was blocked. The beautiful jungle canopy of San Pancho looked as if a herd of dinosaurs had stampeded through it.
By 9:30 AM the full brunt of Hurricane Kenna hit us with 70 to 90 mph winds. The roar of the storm sounded as if 20 freight trains were rolling through town at once. In less than an hour it was over and those people who had not been evacuated began to adventure outside their homes. Almost every large tree in the area had lost limbs, with many uprooted, while almost every road in town was blocked. The beautiful jungle canopy of San Pancho looked as if a herd of dinosaurs had stampeded through it.
The nest boxes were stacked two deep across my living room floor and the sound of hatchlings were coming from every direction. It was a nightmare trying to find and release all of them as soon as possible. Finally several baskets of hatchlings were released into 30 foot hurricane waves.When hurricane Kenna passed I walked over to the box nursery and found that nothing at all was left it. It had been totally washed away and the area was covered with three feet of sand. Most of the lumber from the old nursery had been washed back 200 feet and up a small hill.
This lumber would be used to quickly rebuild a small temporary box nursery that day to incubate the remaining 110 nest boxes. The task of building that nursery was not easy as I had not had any sleep in 36 hours. From 2003 to 2013 several attempts were made to build a box nursery in my front yard where coincidentally the temperatures were more favorable than the beach. In every attempt the termites wasted little time eating the entire nursery down to the ground. In early 2014 I was determined to build a deluxe nursery, one that was totally termite proof and would hold 330 nests. I discovered that termites have to digest what they eat and they can’t digest paint, so every inch of the nursery received three coats of paint. All the supporting posts were set on concrete blocks so the termites could not reach ground water, another thing they needed.
This lumber would be used to quickly rebuild a small temporary box nursery that day to incubate the remaining 110 nest boxes. The task of building that nursery was not easy as I had not had any sleep in 36 hours. From 2003 to 2013 several attempts were made to build a box nursery in my front yard where coincidentally the temperatures were more favorable than the beach. In every attempt the termites wasted little time eating the entire nursery down to the ground. In early 2014 I was determined to build a deluxe nursery, one that was totally termite proof and would hold 330 nests. I discovered that termites have to digest what they eat and they can’t digest paint, so every inch of the nursery received three coats of paint. All the supporting posts were set on concrete blocks so the termites could not reach ground water, another thing they needed.
By this time we had become a victim of our own success. The number of nests we were collecting was more then we could handle. It was time to make several changes in our program. One, we would have to give up most of our other environmental projects, except those on the beach including the marine turtles. By this time we had accomplished all of our goals - received a phone, two email addresses, a web site, a deluxe nursery, a dune buggy, four nice apartments, a computer, printer, scanner, a Homeowners Directory and T-shirts to sell, transportation to and from the airport, and many very fine volunteers throughout the years. The only thing we were missing was a large lion that could eat an entire poacher in one night.
On February 2016 we released our one-millionth hatchling. The day was no different than any other. The true figure was not known until I sat down at the computer and figured out exactly which box it came from and which hatchling it was.
However, others were not going to let this event slide by unnoticed. They planned a celebration on the malecón featuring music, a slide show, speakers, raffle, releasing of hatchlings, and games for the kids. Awards given to volunteers, and the unveiling of a plaque on the edge of the malecón. It was a wonderful event that I will remember forever. I thanked Elvia and Geno, Rocio, Rodolfo, Joe and Manny, Diego, Aldo, Hilloah, Nicole and an army of Entreamigos volunteers for helping organize this event. The plaque may be in my name but it represents hundreds of volunteers and others that have dedicated their time to protect thousands of adult marine turtles and release over a million hatchlings. I sincerely thank everyone for your outstanding work.
In 2016 after seven hours of traveling in a private bus, twenty-seven of us arrived at the DIF conference center in Mazatlan joining hundreds of other environmentalists. They came from points as far south as Zihuatanejo, México, up the Pacific Coast to the top of the Sea of Cortez, and down around the entire Coast of Baja California up to San Diego.
Well over thirty marine turtle protection organizations and many nursery operators were in attendance. I observed many things that were surprising. Most all the beaches in the above area were being protected. I was also amazed by the amount of in-depth detailed information we received over the three-day event. These unpaid volunteers were not amateurs, but experts in their field. They know what they are doing and they are doing it well.
The event was well organized. Our hotel rooms were very comfortable and the food was outstanding. I also felt more than welcome during the entire event. On the evening of the second day, we were bussed to a large buffet restaurant where a party was held which included speakers and entertainment. At one point during the dinner, the young lady sitting beside me tapped me on the shoulder. They are talking about you. I looked up and indeed they were. I was asked to come to the podium where I was presented with an award. I received one of two trophies given out each year.
On February 2016 we released our one-millionth hatchling. The day was no different than any other. The true figure was not known until I sat down at the computer and figured out exactly which box it came from and which hatchling it was.
However, others were not going to let this event slide by unnoticed. They planned a celebration on the malecón featuring music, a slide show, speakers, raffle, releasing of hatchlings, and games for the kids. Awards given to volunteers, and the unveiling of a plaque on the edge of the malecón. It was a wonderful event that I will remember forever. I thanked Elvia and Geno, Rocio, Rodolfo, Joe and Manny, Diego, Aldo, Hilloah, Nicole and an army of Entreamigos volunteers for helping organize this event. The plaque may be in my name but it represents hundreds of volunteers and others that have dedicated their time to protect thousands of adult marine turtles and release over a million hatchlings. I sincerely thank everyone for your outstanding work.
In 2016 after seven hours of traveling in a private bus, twenty-seven of us arrived at the DIF conference center in Mazatlan joining hundreds of other environmentalists. They came from points as far south as Zihuatanejo, México, up the Pacific Coast to the top of the Sea of Cortez, and down around the entire Coast of Baja California up to San Diego.
Well over thirty marine turtle protection organizations and many nursery operators were in attendance. I observed many things that were surprising. Most all the beaches in the above area were being protected. I was also amazed by the amount of in-depth detailed information we received over the three-day event. These unpaid volunteers were not amateurs, but experts in their field. They know what they are doing and they are doing it well.
The event was well organized. Our hotel rooms were very comfortable and the food was outstanding. I also felt more than welcome during the entire event. On the evening of the second day, we were bussed to a large buffet restaurant where a party was held which included speakers and entertainment. At one point during the dinner, the young lady sitting beside me tapped me on the shoulder. They are talking about you. I looked up and indeed they were. I was asked to come to the podium where I was presented with an award. I received one of two trophies given out each year.
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The award was for over twenty-five year’s of committed work in protecting the marine turtles, releasing over a million hatchlings and educating the community on the need to protect endangered wildlife. As I returned to my dinning table, Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. PhD, the world’s leading authority on marine turtle biology and its protection, spoke to us in English. He told several stories of being one of our volunteers in 1995 and 1996, at which time he was a student of Marine biology at the Tucson State University. I was pleased and honored that our work was noticed by such a noteworthy person and such a great group of people.
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Because of the 2020 pandemic, the director felt it was unsafe for volunteers and onlookers to load nests boxes as we had done for many years. Unable to proceed as normal, we were left with only one option: allow the nests to incubate on the beach as nature has intended over the past 200,000,000 years. However, this presented two problems, how to protect the nests from poachers and dogs. The answer was to move the nests away from the mothers' tracks and nest sites.
This relocation effort also gave us an opportunity to place the nests away from lights that seriously distracted the hatchlings, and to place them higher on the beach, away from high waves and hurricanes, which would often destroy them. We were also able to improve on nature by placing the nests as far apart as possible, placing the nests deeper than normal, and packing the sand above the nests tighter. All these modifications give the hatchlings a far better chance to survive.
Although there remained two other problems: birds and heat. Most hatchlings normally reach the surface during the night. However, if they reach the surface during the day when the sand temperature can be as high as 137°f, and if there are birds above, it will lead to their certain death. This is where evolution takes over, because these hatchlings had made a mistake that led to their death, they will not produce offspring that most likely make the same mistake.
We issued Covid-era guidelines for people who might find hatchlings that made the deadly mistake of coming up during the heat of the day, or who see birds attacking them. Our advice is to gather up daytime hatchlings in a towel or a shirt, find the nest site if possible, and remove any other hatchlings from under the sand. Then take them down to the edge of surf and drop off one every 50 feet apart while on the lookout for birds. Taking them to the surf reduces the danger of hot sand, and a 50-foot distance between each hatchling reduces the chance that birds will see them.
With the help of Lisa Fisher and Steve Raschke we have reorganized our entire internet. We now use Weebly.com as our web hosting service, Hover.com to register our five domain names, SendFox.com to deliver our bulk newsletter messages and a cell phone that can receive our email messages around the world. Additionally, we have a new Facebook site: “San Pancho Marine Turtle Project”.
Come Visit our Turtle Nursery!
Call in advance so we can prepare for your visit.
Please note that we work at night so morning calls may be missed.
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