Sarah Waddell and Arthur Carton
Winners of the Hank Smith Award for Excellence in Research
John D. MacArthur Beach State Park features 1.6 miles of beach that serve as a nesting hot spot for threatened and endangered sea turtles each year between March and October.
Annually, 2,000 to 3,000 sea turtles crawl ashore on this beach to lay their eggs. Thousands of their offspring hatch from the nest and return to the ocean.
As a critical nesting ground for these marine reptiles, the park participates in several research endeavors. Park staff conducts turtle nest surveys for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Statewide Nesting Beach and Index Nesting Beach Survey programs. Park staff also monitors the success rate of the hatching nests on our beach through the MacArthur Beach Citizen Science Nest Excavation Program.
Holding all these sea turtle research programs together is no easy task, but Sarah and Arthur lead the way. These two people spend countless hours each sea turtle nesting season coordinating rangers and volunteers to collect data, training individuals in proper research methods, submitting data to FWC and making sure the standards of excellent research are maintained by the team.
Their efforts are essential to monitoring this important part of our park's natural resources. Their work contributes greatly to statewide sea turtle conservation work. We are fortunate to have such passionate and hardworking staff dedicated to this research.
The Hank Smith Award for Excellence in Research is awarded annually to any individual employee or volunteer for conducting and completing research that provides informed direction to improve the natural resource management program of the Florida Park Service.
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