Leatherback Sea Turtles Want Beaches Too

LeatherbackroundLast year, with the National Wildlife Federation’s support, a federal nature reserve was established in the Northeast Ecological Corridor (NEC) of Puerto Rico. The NEC Nature Reserve exists to protect the nesting habitats for the endangered leatherback turtle as well as one of the only tropical rain forests within our nation’s borders.

Good times, right?

Well, recently NWF staff learned of an unfortunate proposal to turn this protected land into resort developments.

I’m not even kidding. As much as this sounds like the plot of a sad children’s animated movie, this is really happening.

But we can stop them if enough of us speak up. The leatherback sea turtle really only has three good places to lay eggs along United States coastline, and if a hotel goes up on this Puerto Rico beach, they’ll be down to two. Can we really jeopardize one of the sea turtle’s top three nesting grounds?

Right now, you can ask the Governor of Puerto Rico to keep the NEC Nature Reserve in existence, and back that request up with an email to the Dept of the Interior and the NOAA– both of which were instrumental in the creation of the reserve.

The more noise we raise, the better our chances of protecting the beaches for the sea turtles.

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Published: August 6, 2009