Shawna: 0:11

I'll start it.

Kendra: 0:12

Hey, we're the Vero Beach Podcast and we're sitting here with sorry, brian and Vero.

Shawna: 0:20

That's what.

Brian: 0:20

I don't do. That's what it feels like. Well, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. We are here with Kendra at the Coastal Connections, and this is part two. We're going to talk about the behind the scenes, what it looks like the day to day or the week to week, what it looks like for you. But before we get started into that, I want to go ahead and go back to the question that we wrapped up on the last episode about the ribbons. Is there some type of meaning behind the different colors? Because we were walking on the beach and we noticed a lot more nesting areas had been marked. Some were blue, some were orange, green, maybe, maybe green, but yeah. So maybe you can give us some insight on that.

Kendra: 0:55

There is some insight to that and it's not so much the colors of the stakes and the ribbon, depending on where you are. So this is kind of complicated. There are three different marine turtle permit holders, as we are called, who do nesting surveys and mark off nests for protection across our entire 22.4 miles of beach in Univer County, Vero Beach. One of those groups is the Disney Conservation Fund team. That's focused on sea turtles because we have a Disney Vero Beach resort here. One is a hired environmental consultant who works for the county and they're hired to do permit required monitoring for beach renourishment projects and things like that. And then you have us. We are your 501c3 nonprofit organization that is deeply rooted in this community and we're here to answer the questions, explain the why and really get people involved in what's going on on our beaches to help save sea turtles. And so, depending on where you are located in this county, each group has a different location. So the Disney group, Disney's conservation team.

Kendra: 2:05

They use different colored stakes depending on the species of sea turtle that they're marking off. I can't remember which one they use for which, but there's three different colors of stakes, three different main species that nest here in Indian River County. Then Ecological Associates, which is the hired consultant. They have just yellow steaks and that's what they use, Okay, and I'm pretty sure orange tape because it's the most common. And then you have us and we're blue, because everything we do is blue. Yes, it's part of our branding colors and so we have blue stakes and blue tape. So all of our nests that are marked off are actually marked off for conservation and education. So they're specifically marked off to educate the general public. Bring people out onto the beach to learn more about sea turtles, their reproductive efforts, ways they can help things like that, Okay.

Brian: 2:55

Nice, Well, that's good to know. Yeah, One news Shauna asked me that well, we were talking about that as we were walking on the beach and I thought, okay, we're going to ask this question and you're going to say, honestly, we just ran out of that color ribbon and we just started using different colors, so that's great.

Kendra: 3:09

I'm glad there's a lot more to that answer. We do outreach and education and the consultant is there to do a permit related job.

Brian: 3:17

What does it look like to run this organization?

Kendra: 3:20

Every day really is different here. It's one of the things that I love about this job. I wake up every day and still love what I do, even if some days are tougher than others. And the reason is is we're in the middle, right, we're taping this podcast in the middle and the heat of the sea turtle nesting season. So here on the East Coast of Florida, the nesting season extends from March 1st to October 31st, so we are right in the middle. It's the peak of it. All. Nests are starting to hatch. Nests are still being laid. It's great. So all of our focus is really on the nesting beach. Right now we are still offering nighttime turtle walks and where guests are taken out onto the beach by one of our permitted guides to see a nesting loggerhead after getting a short presentation. And then we just started offering our daytime turtle digs Because our nests are hatching. It's now time to invite people on the beach to come be a part of those nest success evaluations and during those we might find a left behind hatchling or two and release them back to the ocean.

Kendra: 4:23

That focus ends in August and then we flip to sustainability programs. We have International Coastal Cleanup Day in September. We're focused on coastal cleanup efforts. You know, year round we work with businesses to recycle single use plastic film. We to date we've already recycled almost seven thousand pounds just this year and well over twenty five thousand pounds since the program started. So it's a lot of plastic film that would have gone to the landfill. You know so. Every day we do volunteer orientations. We're huge with volunteer onboarding and bringing people on the team. So I mean, you name it we write grants. We survive off of donations. We have a fundraising season. You know it's. It really is crazy how different every day is here and every single one of our staff and team members here is what makes it so much fun. But to bring it back to digs, it is everyone's favorite part of the year is turtle digs time.

Brian: 5:21

So you're a 501, uh, c3. So I've worked a lot with nonprofit radio stations which obviously do a lot of fundraisers. So what type of fundraisers do you do here?

Kendra: 5:31

Yeah, so we have three main fundraisers throughout the year and then some kind of smaller passive ones. So we have a main event on Easter weekend every year. It's called the Tipsy Turtle Two Mile Fun Run and Festival. So we host it over at JC Park on Saturday of Easter weekend and every year is themed at a different sea turtle species. So it's super educational and involve tons of kids activities, bring out the whole family, and then, of course, the local brewers come out, which is even better.

Brian: 5:58

I was wondering where the tipsy came from. Now it's making sense.

Kendra: 6:00

You know, and then International Coastal Cleanup Day Aside we are the local host for that. We involve anywhere between 1,000 to 1,200 people in that cleanup effort in one day. And then we throw a giant after party and then, of course, raise money through the funds of the raffles and things like that. And that happens at Walking Tree, Once again a local brewer. We love them. And then we have a big shellabration effort at the end of the year as a part of our end of the year fundraising campaign to raise targeted amounts of funds to help us on go with our activities. That's called shellabration, I love that.

Kendra: 6:38

I love it, that's cool.

Brian: 6:39

Since you stayed tuned in, let's get to the turtle digs. Talk to me about that, like what is the purpose behind the turtle digs?

Kendra: 6:46

So the ultimate purpose is for us to collect scientific data on the success of each of those nests that incubated on our beaches. It's one thing to count oh, how many nests do we have? I could tell you we have 8,000 nests, but if those 8,000 nests produced zero hatchlings, they were not successful. And so there's a whole nother side of the story that we need to focus on as scientists, and that is to collect information on how many eggs were in that nest, how many hatched, how many didn't, what type of impacts they might've been involved with or interacted with during their incubation and any other major notes that need to be made, and those data are provided to both local and state officials. We, as scientists, do these evaluations for every single mark nest on the beach.

Kendra: 7:30

The fun part is when, when I first made this program, it was because I'm like, why does everyone? I'm driving an ATV and marking this and everybody always has the same questions. They always want to know, they stopped me and they want to watch, and I'm like, why don't we just do this for the public? And so we called it a turtle dig, and now we have a regular 100 plus people that come to every single dig, and now we have a regular 100 plus people that come to every single dig. And then we have online viewers in the thousands that watch these virtual turtle digs. So we had one a few days ago and it had two hatchlings left behind, so we were able to release those into the ocean and we'll see what this next nest has for us. But one of my favorite parts about the turtle digs now is we have VIP nest adoptions as well. So another smaller, more passive fundraiser all of our nests are marked for education are also adopted.

Shawna: 8:21

Yeah, I was going to ask about that.

Kendra: 8:22

Yes, and so our adopters get to follow the incubation of their nest over the trimester. That it's on the beach, yeah, and so that's kind of fun. They can be there present, watch the evaluation of their nestester. That it's on the beach, oh, that's cool, yeah, and so that's kind of fun. They can be there present, watch the evaluation of their nest, and it's just something special for them to really get to experience, and so that's one of our favorite things. There's always a wait list for our adoptions, because we only can adopt out what Mother Nature gives us, so we try our best to fulfill those.

Shawna: 9:29

But yeah, it's a lot of fun and so if someone wants to come to a dig, they sign up on your website.

Kendra: 9:35

Is that right, yeah, so we always will post the days, the dig days, three days before it happens. That's as much fair warning as we get. And the reason is is because we have to follow state guidelines on how to do these best evaluations and there's a three day window when, once you see those hatchlings emerge, three days later you do the evaluation. I see, and that's just a rule we have to follow. So we get a three-day window to tell you about it, and so we post about it on social media, we put it on our event calendar, we answer phone calls and we just say check our website every day at 12 o'clock.

Brian: 10:08

What's your website and your social media handles?

Kendra: 10:10

Yeah, our website is coastal-connectionsorg. Don't forget the hyphen in there. It's really important. And then our social media is just Coastal Connections Inc, and you can find us on Instagram, facebook, tiktok, you name it.

Shawna: 10:26

I love that you're utilizing social media the way you are, because I feel like I've learned so much since I moved here.

Shawna: 10:38

For instance, there was a post not too long ago about how many turtles were turning back around and going back to the water, and that really made me think about what I'm doing on the beach at night. There's so many things we can do and I'm learning that from your social media. That would make such a big impact on turtles for the better, and people just don't know. So you're really putting that information out there and helping people make better choices.

Kendra: 10:57

Yeah, and that's kind of part of our approach, which we talked about a little bit on our first episode is it really matters how we talk to people and I think that's why people remember us. It's a reputation that we've built is we don't want to be thought of as like, do not do this people, we want to first approach you of like oh, did you know that this was a thing? Did you know that sea turtles are here? Are you visiting? Are you local? And so ask a lot of these questions, because when our nighttime crew is on a turtle walk and you record 136 people on the beach after dark with white flashlights in a area less than half a mile long, that's too many people.

Kendra: 11:35

The reality is is so many people have no idea and so many people, once they learn, like, oh, I had no idea, I just was looking for ghost crabs. Well, looking for ghost crabs can have a negative impact on sea turtles trying to nest, and you can look at ghost crabs and other. You know other coastlines. Go to Georgia, go to South Carolina, even go to the panhandle of Florida, alabama. You can do that and not have that big of an impact, because they have turtles but they don't have nearly the number that we have here, and people just don't know that they change a lot of their behaviors the moment we tell them. The issue that we're seeing this year for some reason, is that every night there's still a lot of people.

Shawna: 12:13

There's just so many people coming here now you know what I mean Like it's a big increase.

Kendra: 12:17

So I don't know if you're an Airbnb owner or if you're a hotelier or whomever, but it's just so important to tell your guests, instead of saying don't go on the beach with the flashlights. It's like help us continue to protect the natural resources that we have here that are so special, and that's our turtles. And the way we can protect them is enjoy them in the dark and keep your distance, because that's why they come here, and we want to keep it that way, yeah.

Brian: 12:44

Yeah, and I think in the next episode too, I want to give you opportunity to share some more ways that visitors and locals, how we can be more sensitive, to be more aware of what we're doing and how it affects all these things, because I think a lot of us they don't know. Or, like you even just said, about the hotels or Airbnb, they might say don't use a flashlight. But are you educating them on why?

Kendra: 13:03

It's the why People thirst for why, yes, they want to know. Why not?

Brian: 13:06

give it to them. It'll make a huge difference. So we'll definitely dive into that. I want to ask one more question before a little bit about. You're talking about the plastics and stuff, all the cleanup we were noticing at the beach. It's called beach baskets, is that you?

Kendra: 13:20

Is that you guys?

Brian: 13:21

Can you explain to us, explain to us a little bit about the beach baskets and the results you've seen from it.

Kendra: 13:28

I think, before I even do that, I think I'm going to say like haven't you noticed? We're everywhere.

Shawna: 13:34

Yes, yes, we are creeping into your lives.

Kendra: 13:40

Yes, we have beach toy recycling bins at public beach accesses in the city of Vero Beach so that people can recycle and reuse their beach toys when they visit. And then we have our beach baskets, which are designed for people to do their own self-guided beach cleanup anytime they go to the beach. So we're providing that resource in partnership with our local county government. We're offering that to minimize debris on our beaches, and so anyone can be involved with the cleanup, whether you can join us on a scheduled one or not.

Shawna: 14:09

I just noticed the beach toy recycle thing. That is so smart. I really think people should kind of advertise that like if they have an Airbnb or whatever, because so many people are going out and buying toys and they don't have to keep them. They can just give them to somebody else to play with and they don't even have to buy them.

Brian: 14:26

Borrow the ones that are already in the box, it's true, but even if you do go out and buy new toys, and you know you're only going like a big fight with kids and their parents when their parents say there's toys there and then they get there and there's no toys that does happen.

Kendra: 14:46

They fluctuate.

Shawna: 14:47

That's good, you said there would be toys here, but there are plenty of places here. They could buy them if they needed to.

Kendra: 14:53

Just don't throw them away. That's the goal. We don't want them thrown away. That's good.

Brian: 14:56

That's good, that's good.

Shawna: 14:57

I like that it's there, because when I find toys on the beach I go put them in there and we have volunteers that go in and clean everything periodically so you can feel safe with your kids touching beach toys.

Brian: 15:07

Oh, that's cool. Well, look, don't let her fool you. I've watched her fight kids for toys at the beach to see this.

Shawna: 15:16

I would never.

Brian: 15:17

This has been a great episode. I'm excited to get into the next episode, part three. We're going to talk about Vero Beach and where you can educate us more on how to take the right precautions to help keep the turtles safe and enjoy the beach.

Kendra: 15:29

BC Turtle friendly.

Brian: 15:30

All right With that. We will catch you guys next time.