Nesting Sea Turtles Vertical Challenge on Sand Dollar

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Sea Turtle Report 06-12-25

On June 5th, Sand Dollar’s south berm was regraded from a vertical 90-degree wall into a gentler slope of 45 degrees, more or less. This was triggered by the high number of sea turtle false crawls in this area since the start of the nesting season (May 1, 2025). The ratio of false crawls to actual nests is much higher in Marco compared to other areas being monitored. FWC reached out to the project contractor, Humiston and Moore, to provide relief for the nesting sea turtles. 

As part of the permit, a pre-sea turtle season escarpment survey and a berm inspection report were conducted by Turrell Hall and Associates. In early January, 2025, Dabees stated, “Once the project is done, Turrell Hall and his team will do the bird monitoring and they will advise him of any additional environmental conditions that need to be met prior to May 1st (sea turtle season).”

On January 19, 2025, according to Mary Toro of the Collier County Sea Turtle Program, “They are supposed to grade the berm down when they finish, and we will check that they do when the project is complete. However, this does not mean that this will ensure another scarp won’t form when summer storms come this season.”

On February 18, 2025, at the close of the berm project, I had contacted Mary Toro on the issue of escarpment regrading prior to sea turtle season, and she replied that she had met with Mohamed Dabees and “They will be grading over the next few days.” According to Toro, “the Collier County Sea Turtle Program has no regulatory abilities and they can only make suggestions,” and Toro had provided the contact person for FWC.