Mobile Classroom Rolls through Town

The Learning Adventures Bus (LAB) cruised around town this summer as part of the Conservancy’s new educational Summer Science Learning Adventure Modules program – Summer SLAM. Thanks to the annual operational support of three local funding partners – Naples Children and Education Foundation (NCEF), Suncoast Credit Union Foundation, and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation –the LAB mobile classroom reached more than 760 students at 11 locations in Collier and Lee counties with its unique summer science learning programs.  students reached in Collier and Lee counties

760

Wildlife Rehabilitation

A Busy Baby Season

Year in Review

From Hurricane Ian to normal daily operations, the von Arx Wildlife Hospital has seen 4,217 animals.

When Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida, our friends at CROW Clinic on Sanibel Island needed immediate assistance. We began to transfer their wildlife patients to our facility. This partnership still continues as CROW navigates and rebuilds their site. Outside of admissions, the wildlife hospital has made major contributions to shorebird safety, gopher tortoise protection and overall wildlife injury prevention.

9% 35% 56% REPTILES MAMMALS BIRDS

Each spring, the longer days and warming temperatures trigger many native animals to begin breeding and nesting. This increase in activity results in a surge of admissions to the von Arx Wildlife Hospital – animal admissions doubled during spring and summer months. On one Saturday in June alone, we admitted over 30 baby animals. This past year, our Annual Baby Shower, held virtually, brought in donations and resources needed to care for the influx of injured and orphaned baby wildlife.

Rare Patients and Unique Rescues

Naples Pier Pelican Protection

In June 2022, Naples City Council voted to extend the Sunday fishing closure at the Naples Pier through June 2023 in an effort to minimize injuries to shorebirds, especially brown pelicans, caused by fishing line and hook entanglement. While the destruction of the Naples Pier due to Hurricane Ian has closed the pier to fishing, the von Arx Wildlife Hospital will continue to document admissions and provide input regarding the Naples Pier rebuild in an effort to balance angling activities with native shorebird protection.

The von Arx Wildlife Hospital’s strong history of injury prevention lead the Center for Biological Diversity to ask the Conservancy, along with Friends of the Pelicans, Friends of the Tampa Bay National Wildlife Refuges, Humane Society of the United States, and American Bird Conservancy to cosign a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking the Migratory Bird Treaty Act be enforced due to ongoing threats to native shorebirds populations from angling activities at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. Von Arx Wildlife Hospital staff also continue to participate in the Hooked Pelican Working Group, coordinated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. This interagency and inter-organizational team is committed to providing long-term guidance and direction on managing the entangled seabird issues throughout the southwest region of Florida.

Gopher Tortoise Protection in Marco Island

In June, more than 4-acres of gopher tortoise habitat was protected in eastern Marco Island. The stretch of South Barfield Drive has a 30-mph speed limit, yet was the location of more than 28 tortoise mortality events in early 2022. The land surveys show it holds burrows of almost 200 tortoises and other native wildlife including burrowing owls.

Joanna Fitzgerald, Director of the von Arx Wildlife Hospital, helped coordinate the efforts with local partners to deploy resources to install a silt fence to keep the tortoises from crossing the road. The fence was completed in one day, alleviating, so far, numerous injuries to wandering tortoises.

Fitzgerald and a team of volunteers work to protect gopher tortoises on Marco Island.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida sea turtle program is one of the longest continuously running sea turtle monitoring research projects in the world. Since the program’s inception, we have estimated over 434,410 hatchlings from Keewaydin Island reaching Gulf of Mexico waters for their chance at becoming adults.

Total Nests: 11,342 Nests

Conservancy of Southwest Florida on Keewaydin (1983-2022) and Naples Beach (1994-2018)

2013-2022

5,210

2003-2012

Record Year for Sea Turtle Nesting

The 40th season of the Conservancy’s sea turtle nesting research and monitoring program on Keewaydin Island was a tremendous success, even with Hurricane Ian hitting the island at the tail end of turtle season. This year, there were a record 628 nests on the island and about 42,905 hatchlings that made it into the Gulf before the hurricane in September - a substantial increase in comparison to the last decade.

2,642

1993-2002

2,559

1983-1992

931

Total Eggs: 830,870

Total eggs the Conservancy assessed on Keewaydin (1983-2022) and Naples Beach (1994-2018)