IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area | Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, INC.

27 Sep Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, INC.

Posted at 14:48h in 2022, Environment and Recreation, Nonprofits by Jae Vogei

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NAVARRE BEACH SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION CENTER, INC.

FROM HATCHLINGS TO ADULTS, COME JOIN US ON OUR JOURNEY

Grant Year: 2022 | Focus Area: Environment and Recreation | Grant Amount: $103,820 | Grant Status: In Progress

The mission of Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center, Inc. is "Giving Sea Turtles More Tomorrows" through conservation, education, and research. After receiving 501(c)3 status in April 2013, the organization leased a building from Santa Rosa County, and volunteers began remodeling the space. By the end of 2014, the Center opened to the public with limited displays for field trips and outreach programs and a small gift shop. In January 2018, a sea turtle named Sweet Pea from the Gulfarium became the Center's "ambassador-in-residence." Sweet Pea, and others like her, are why there is now a Sea Turtle Stranding & Rescue Team of volunteers for strandings and entrapments at the Navarre Pier, the number one location in all of Florida and the nation for these rescues. In addition to meeting with daily visitors, caring for animals, and monthly Trash Bashes to clean up Navarre Beach, the Center is engaged in daily school and special field trips, specifically requested outreach visits, and attending outreach events. The Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center is currently involved in three collaborative research projects with institutions and universities on sea turtle migration and why they strand here.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT

Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center’s visitation continues to grow, and the current building reaches maximum capacity quickly. This means visitors must wait outside, often in inclement weather, until there is room to accommodate additional guests. The IMPACT grant will fund a portion of an expansion that will provide a hands-on Enclosed Interpretive Education Room and a Sea Turtle Stranding Rescue Assessment Area where guests can begin the educational process. This enclosed space will have two entrance and exit doors and at least four windows and skylights. Static and interactive educational displays will connect guests with sea turtles and marine and coastal ecosystems and inspire visitors to work toward protecting these valuable natural resources. The space will feature a garage door to facilitate night storage for the utility terrain vehicle that the Sea Turtle Stranding Rescue Team uses to transport the rescued sea turtles from the Navarre Pier to a private vehicle that takes these sea turtles to a rehabilitation facility. This expansion will also provide an additional entry to the main facility.

EXPECTED IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY

The Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center feels an inherent obligation to impart knowledge and examples of human-made impacts on our planet and its species. The public is "hungry" for this knowledge and connection, and the Center aims to fulfill that curiosity by accommodating more visitors through its doors. In 2021, more than 50,000 visitors visited the Center. The ability to increase the building's guest capacity will allow the Center to reach approximately 200 more guests per day and present additional specialized programs enhancing the conservation messages. Through tourist development advertising, is not only the Center getting visitors from Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia, but also a growing number of snowbirds and others who come in from the New England area, as well as international visitors. This expansion will allow the Center to host more guests, hold larger conservation/education programs, support research projects, and spread the mission of "Giving Sea Turtles More Tomorrows" through conservation, education, and research.