CoyoteWatch: A Florida Master Naturalist Wildlife Monitoring Program for Sea Turtle Conservation

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The twenty one miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches in St Lucie County, FL are home to three species of marine sea turtles federally listed on the U.S. Endangered Species List. These beaches have been identified as critical nesting habitat for these animals. Unfortunately, populations of non-native coyotes threaten to encroach on sea turtles nests on St Lucie County’s beaches. The CoyoteWatch Program was established in 2014 to monitor strategically located nesting beaches for evidence of coyote predation on sea turtle nests. Florida Master Naturalist volunteers conducted wildlife monitoring research and educational outreach in an effort to determine if predictions proved correct and coyotes began destroying these nests. As a result of the CoyoteWatch program, it was determined that coyote predation on sea turtle nests occurred for the first time in St Lucie County in 2014. Beachfront land managers were notified so they could adopt a coyote adaptive management plan with an emphasis on sea turtle nest protection.