Outward Bound Costa Rica students heading to Playa Avellanas this summer will be making a big difference for Costa Rica’s sea turtle population. While “turtle season” does not really begin until eggs are laid around September and October, there is a lot of work to do for aiding their conservation.
“I love what you guys do… very cool program and important these days to facilitate young people on their path…. My niece did Outward Bound… and loved it.”
Laura and Marc then began discussing possible service projects for all of our students heading to Guanacaste province, and planned for our students’ to help with their Habitat Restoration Project.
Marc & Rachel Ward, founders of Sea Turtles Forever in 2001, noted some key problems inhibiting Costa Rica’s sea turtle population growth:
- poachers stealing eggs
- a lot of fishing line: very destructive to many forms of wildlife
- extremely large amount of trash: harmful to turtles that eat it; deadly to hermit crabs that kill themselves by crawling into open containers with water (the morning sun boils it)
Why is so much importance placed on this species? Sea turtle biologists have proved that protection of sea turtles is vital to the world’s ecology because of their broad migration patterns. Well that, and we can all agree how adorable they are. You can see it on the face of Hannah Curran (shown top right) who participated in helping newly-hatched turtles during our Water &; Wave Semester course last December.
Those two facts alone are enough to make our students love the idea of keeping sea turtles alive forever.
To learn more about this project and their efforts, contact Marc or Rachel Ward at [email protected] or 1-503-739-1446.