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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA <br />BOARD MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Jason E. Brown, County Administrator <br />THROUGH: Richard B. Szpyrka, P.E., Public Works Director <br />THROUGH: James D. Gray, Jr., Coastal Engineer J <br />FROM: Kendra L. Cope, M.S., Environmental Specialist <br />SUBJECT: UPDATE — Sea Turtle Nesting Season - Halfway <br />DATE: July 6, 2016 <br />REQUEST <br />It is requested that the following information be given formal consideration by the Board of <br />County Commissioners during the regularly scheduled meeting on July 12, 2016. <br />This is an announcement to inform the residents of Indian River County about the successful <br />loggerhead sea turtle nesting season the county has been experiencing as well as a new upcoming <br />educational event based around sea turtles. Additional information on upcoming event dates can <br />be found on County. Coastal Facebook page: IRC Coastal and on the County website <br />www.ircgov.com/coastal. <br />DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS <br />Indian River County is home to 3 species of nesting sea turtles (Loggerhead, Green, and <br />Leatherback). In 2004, the County implemented a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) in order to <br />establish a framework for sea turtle conservation in Indian River County through daily nesting <br />surveys, nest protection during emergency shoreline protection construction, management of <br />predator impacts, implementing programs to reduce human impacts, and local education. More <br />specifically, to better understand and integrate protection measures, the county's objectives for <br />protecting turtles on the beach are as follows; record the location of every turtle crawl on the <br />beach from the previous night, mark off a sample of nests to determine hatching success and for <br />educational programs, and record all impacts to nests including nest predations, tidal over wash <br />and human impacts. Sea turtles are long-lived species and take up to 25-30 years to become <br />mature adults. Long-term monitoring is vital to the understanding of their populations. <br />This is the 12th year of county -wide monitoring since the HCP program was implemented. Data <br />collected over these years has helped the county protect nests during beach construction <br />projects, decrease the number of nests effected by raccoons, and identify key areas impacting <br />hatchling survival from artificial beachfront lights. <br />F:\Public Works\Kendra Cope\Public Presentations and M eetings\Com mission Meeting Items\Informational <br />Item\Sea Turtle Nesting-6-30-2016—Public Notice Informational BOCC Agenda Item—Final Rev 1.docx <br />3 <br />