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90 Years of Giving Voice to Place and Speaking for Wildlife—Happy Birthday NWF!
Green sea turtle. Credit: Stephanie Ballman
As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and the Florida Wildlife Federation, I’m reflecting on these two occasions for celebration and reflection—two opportunities to observe what 90 years of dedication, commitment, and purpose can accomplish.
Time is a fascinating thing. From the human perspective, 90 years is indeed a long time, yet, when you think about it in a geological scale, an evolutionary scale, a scale measured against deep time and natural history, it is but the blink of an eye. The sea turtles of today’s oceans have been on Earth for 100 to 150 million years, and a sea turtle can have a life span of up to 100 years in the wild. 90 years is not that long at all!
Let us then agree that it is not the amount of time, the length of time, or the age that we find NWF has reached that is the most impressive….it is what NWF has done with that time!
One example of time and effort well spent is the NWF Gulf Program. A gathering of dedicated staff, sportsmen, community supporters, and volunteers who have banded together to protect, conserve, and restore one of the world’s great marine and coastal treasures. Every moment committed to this noble endeavor is time well spent, doing what wilderness advocate Douglas Peacock refers to as “the world’s work.”
Organizations, like people, are measured by what they stand for and what they accomplish. They are judged by their ability to speak truth to power and, in times of great challenge, like the ones we find ourselves in these days in the Gulf, to stand strong and press on with purpose to protect the people, places, and wildlife that call the Gulf home.
The last 90 years have seen climate change and sea level rise across our coastlines, intensifying hurricanes along the Gulf coast, extinction, habitat loss and coastal Louisiana disappearing from generation to generation. And NWF has responded nationally with 90 years of science-based advocacy and policy to bring light to darkness and proven solutions to daunting problems.
In Florida, NWF is engaged in efforts to protect the habitat of nesting sea turtles—putting their 90-year history in perspective. When a nesting female sea turtle creates her nest for the first time, she is returning to essentially the same beach from which she hatched originally 30 years before.
The entirety of NWF’s 90-year history can be viewed from the perspective of three generations of sea turtles and their first nests. Three generations of sea turtles returning to the same lonely, darkened, wind-swept beach to engage in an evolutionary continuum that is a function of deep natural history and geologic time. Science, magic and hope are intertwined in the creation of new life.
The last 90 years have seen tremendous changes in the condition and nature of those beaches. A beach that historically was darkened on the night hatchlings emerged, allowing them to use the light of the stars and the moon to find the waiting sea, is now aglow in artificial light. Hatchlings become disoriented and head away from the safety of the ocean and into a world of predators, cars, people, drains, and concrete.
As NWF enters its 90th year, the Gulf team is working to dim the lights and return the dark beaches to the hatchlings. In a sense, they are turning back the clock to a time when turtles came first.
NWF’s Gulf Program seeks to enact and implement Sea Turtle Lighting Ordinances (STLO) that require darkened beaches and turtle-friendly lighting during nesting season. This simple, easy, common-sense solution ensures another species can survive and provides hope that in another 90 years, the Gulf’s population of sea turtles is even more robust. This is the world’s work.
If 90 years of dedication conserved and protected just two creatures of each species in the Gulf South, it would be worth it. But NWF is trying to save entire populations, working to restore entire ecosystems, and seeking to spend the next 90 years conserving and protecting all things wild, honoring the people and places of the Gulf and of America and connecting the world our great-great grandparents knew to the world our great-great grandchildren will inherit. 90 years of the world’s work.
Joe Murphy is a former Wildlife Policy Specialist for NWF’s Gulf Program. He contributes these blog posts as a NWF alumnus and supporter. He contributes these blog posts as a NWF alumnus and supporter. Joe is a lifelong and native Floridian who lives along the Gulf Coast. You can follow Joe on Instagram @ naturecoastjoe
