Funding Available for Wildlife Friendly Lighting For Beachfront Properties

On July 6th, Marco’s first set of hatchlings emerged from Nest No. One and according to Sea Turtle Monitor Tyler Beck, it was “massively disoriented.” On August 16th, beach walkers found a wandering hatchling on the Gulf side of Residents Beach. It crawled from Nest 77, which was 1.8 miles to the South.  According to Beck, over 50% of hatched nests on Marco result in disorientation due to beachfront artificial lighting.

The Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) says that poorly managed artificial lighting on nesting beaches is a fixable problem. Artificial lights confuse and disorient adult and hatchling sea turtles resulting in tens of thousands of hatchlings wandering each year toward landward sources of light, often dying in the process. 

Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC) has grant funding available from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund to help beachfront property owners comply with local sea turtle lighting ordinances in Collier County.

From now through June 2024, STC is targeting beachfront single-family homes, small condominiums and small businesses in Collier County that need wildlife-friendly lighting. If a light can be seen from the beach, it threatens sea turtles and other wildlife.

STC’s lighting retrofit program covers up to 100% of the cost to replace fixtures and bulbs that are visible from the beach. If a property is interested, STC will conduct a daytime and nighttime evaluation on the property to measure the amount of light emitted, take “before” pictures of the property, and record how many fixtures and bulbs need to be replaced. STC designs a personalized lighting plan for that property, receives quotes from lighting distributors and assembles a contract for the property to sign. After the contract is executed, STC provides 70% of the funding for the fixtures and bulbs up front. After the lights have been installed, STC completes a final evaluation and receives a final report from the property representative. STC then sends the remaining funds to the property owner.

I reached out to Rachel Tighe, Lighting Project Manager for the STC, for additional information on the Retrofit Grant Program. She emphasized that there are three rules to wildlife-friendly lighting:

1. Keep it low: lower mounting height, watts, and lumens

2. Keep it Shielded: shielding the light source so it’s not visible from the beach and directs light down to the ground where it is needed

3. Keep it long: this refers to wavelength. Sea turtles are less attracted to light at 560 nm or longer. 

Tighe added that many of the beachfront properties on Marco Island do not meet these rules nor comply with their local lighting ordinance. 

In the past, Tighe shared that “we have worked closely with the city since the start of this phase in 2019. The city has provided us lists of problematic properties that we can support, promoted the grant program, sent staff to training related to wildlife-friendly lighting, and worked with us to update their lighting ordinance for sea turtle protection.”

Tighe added that properties enter into a contract with STC to remain wildlife friendly year-round (not just for sea turtle nesting season) for 10 years. They are provided with a certificate of completion and Code enforcement is made aware of properties in the area that have undergone retrofits.  

STC has retrofitted more than 300 beachfront properties in Florida with wildlife-friendly lighting, according to Tighe. Also, STC has documented a decrease in nest disorientation rates in front of retrofitted properties. In addition, property owners have also documented a decrease in their utility bills, are in compliance with local lighting codes, and enjoy the attractiveness of their property after a retrofit.

For more information on STC’s sea turtle lighting retrofit program, visit conserveturtles.org/stc-beachfront-lighting-program. To inquire about retrofitting, beachfront property owners can call STC’s lighting team at 352-373-6441 or email Lighting Project Manager Rachel Tighe at rachel@conserveturtles.org.