Monterey Bay, Sea Otters, and… Rob Lowe?

Who would you rather see while kayaking - a movie star or a cuddly marine mammal? I had the opportunity to do both just a short drive from San Francisco in August of 2010.

Monterey, California is in some ways a model for how wildlife-based tourism can revive a community and benefit both people and endangered animals. In the early 1900’s, the town was a hub for the fishing industry and was home to many canneries based on the abundant catches coming in from fishermen. Fish stocks crashed in the 1950’s from overfishing, decimating the community.

In the late 1970’s, a group of marine biologists suggested building an aquarium, including a couple of members of the Packard family (as in Hewlett Packard) who provided the funding to make it happen. Right from the start, the idea was to showcase the incredibly diverse ocean habitat in Monterey Bay.

Now, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the most popular in the world and a leader in ocean conservation efforts. The Monterey Bay National Marine Reserve protects ocean wildlife including sea otters, leatherback sea turtles migrating from Indonesia, and several species of whales including gray whales, humpbacks, orcas, and blue whales, the world’s largest animal.

Now due to the work of hundreds of visionaries, instead of taking from the ocean, Monterey’s economy is based on conserving, learning about, and experiencing the ocean. I came here to participate in the Blue Ocean Film Festival, a celebration of marine moviemaking that happens every two years (next one is in August, you should go!).

After watching a number of great films, I had to get out on the water. I grabbed my friend Jen and we went to rent kayaks to get out among a bunch of otters floating around the kelp forest alongside the aquarium. As we were getting outfitted with our kayaks, the cashier leaned over the counter and said, “Keep an eye out for Rob Lowe.”

“Really?” Jen and I looked at each other in surprise. “Yeah, he’s out there on a paddle board”, the guy replied.

So Jen and I hit the water and pushed our way through the thick kelp and headed toward the lumps in the water that looked like they could be otters. When we found a group swimming around, we parked our kayaks in the kelp at a respectable distance and watched as they played. A short distance away, an otter pup, tied up by mom in the kelp, watched jealously as the others looked for food. This bay is one of the best places in the world to see these threatened otters; you can even see them from land alongside the aquarium.

Then we saw a very tanned guy inching along on a paddleboard. From our distance, it certainly looked like he could be a movie star but we didn’t leave the otters to get within papparazi distance. This photo here is our best evidence.

I remain a bit skeptical that it was Mr. Lowe (though Jen swears with her life it was him). I do know that those lumps in the foreground are sea otters, the real movie stars of Monterey Bay.

Big Season at Las Tortugas

One of my favorite parts of my job running SEEtheWILD is the opportunity to bring a group of Portland, Oregon residents to participate in a volunteer vacation every spring with the leatherback sea turtles. As our group arrived to our hotel the first night, the inevitable question was asked, “How many turtles do you think we’ll see?”

As an optimist, I always want to answer that question with a big number but past experience has taught me that its better to set lower expectations. I hedged my bets and said that we should see several, knowing that so far this season, there have been a lot. A group that we organized in late March had 14 turtles their first night and even had the opportunity to see on one the beach in the morning, a rare chance to take a photograph.

I tried to contain my excitement when we got to the turtle station and I learned that there were 3 times as many nests in March of this year, compared to last year. My optimism was confirmed though shortly after we got out to beach for our 11 am patrol with the local researchers. It took all of 15 minutes to find our first leatherback, just a few hundred meters up the beach. It had already laid its eggs but our group was able to help measure the turtle and relocate her eggs to a hatchery, where they are protected until they hatch in two months.

The second turtle we saw was practically waiting for us in front of the hatchery, though another group of researchers were already working with her. Once we created the new nest, we were alerted that a third turtle that had just come up down the beach. On the way, we came across yet another turtle that had come ashore but decided not to nest. As we arrived at the third turtle, we realized she had just started to drop her eggs.

(credit: Neil Osborne)

As the researcher situated a bag to catch the eggs, I jumped in to dig out the sand to create access for her and to collect the eggs that had already fallen and put them into the bag. By the time we were done with that turtle, our four hour patrol was just about finished and we still hadn’t walked our full section of beach. As we got back to the station, we learned that another turtle had laid its eggs just in front and a couple of our group stayed behind to dig it out and move it to the hatchery.

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Our group slept the second day as late as the boisterous howler monkeys, roosters, and rising heat allowed. Sharing the station with our group the first day was an enthusiastic group of Costa Rican students participating in an educational program of a US-based non-profit called Ecology Project International. Their energy helped to keep the normally quiet and laid back atmosphere of the research station lively with games and activities.

After lunch, the project biologist, Stamie Sklirou, gave our group an educational presentation about leatherbacks and other sea turtles of Costa Rica. She saved the best for last as she brought us over to a desk with a sheet draped over the top. As she lifted the sheet, we saw huddled in a dark corner of a sand-covered box the season’s first leatherback hatchling.

This tiny turtle had been found on the beach this morning and was being kept safe until nightfall, when it has a much better chance of surviving the gauntlet of crabs, birds, fish, and other animals that can easily swallow a hatchling in the bright daylight. This hatchling had the good fortune of being the one that the new volunteers were using to learn how to measure and collect information, so it was handled more than its brothers and sisters who made it safely to the water last night.

With the season off to a good start, though, it was just the first of thousands that will enter the warm water of the Caribbean, braving a gauntlet of fish, birds, plastic, and fishing gear.

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Our final night of turtle patrols started slowly. With the moon providing some light on the beach, we made a full pass of our section without seeing any turtles. About halfway through the shift, though, we saw the now familiar trail of dark sand heading up the beach that alerts us of a turtle’s presence.

I convinced the patrol leader to let me catch the eggs and somewhat patiently waited as she dug out the nest. Watching her back flippers alternate digging out the sand, I realized that her right flipper was shorter than the left. Once the turtle was done digging, I got the bag in place under the cloaca (where the eggs drop from). She kept her damaged flipper inside the hole, resting it on top of my hand while I held the bag.

It wasn’t until the leatherback was done laying and started to cover the nest that I realized just how damaged her flipper was. She tried to push down on the nest and would have crushed her eggs had my hand not been holding her back. The heavy scar tissue on the end of her flipper was very different from the soft outer edge of most leatherback back flippers. Normally the eggs would have been lower in the nest but the nest was not as wide as normal due to the shorter flipper, hence the risk of breaking the eggs.

After we pulled the eggs out of the nest to take to the hatchery, we inspected her for other damage and that’s when realized what a tough turtle this was. More than half of her front right flipper was missing, likely the result of a shark bite. Despite these challenged, this inspiring turtle made it back to the nesting beach and to lay an above average 99 eggs.

Its turtles like this one that give me optimism for the future of this species. She managed to migrate thousands of miles to reproduce, avoiding sharks, fishing gear, and other hazards. Hopefully some of her hatchlings will inherit that strength and make it back to this beach in a couple of decades.

Learn more about Costa Rica ecotourism here.

Seeing Tigers in India

(This is an excerpted guest post from Kurt Kutay, President of Wildland Adventures, a SEEtheWILD partner. See the full post here.)

Leaving the unorganized chaos of Delhi behind we sought the peace and quiet of the jungle, and the anticipation of spending 6 days on 8 safari game drives in search of the Bengal tiger. It takes 5 hours drive from the Jabalpur airport to get to Kanha National Park and our accommodations at the Kanha Jungle Lodge, but here the sounds are squawking parrots, barking deer, and monkeys rattling the tree branches . Every morning at 6:15 AM we pass through the gates, returning by 10:30 after a bush breakfast in the field, then back into the park at 2:45 until we must exit by 5:45 dusk.

We try not to be too "tiger centric" but the anticipation of driving through carnivore territory, hearing the alarm calls of monkey and deer, knowing that Bengal tigers and leopards are lurking in the tall grass and bamboo thickets watching us is a little unnerving but completely mesmerizing. We are with expert driver naturalist guides, joined by a local assistant guide from the community to help track and spot the tiger, and every time we encounter another jeep they all confer in Hindi as to who saw what where and when. We watch for pug marks (tiger tracks) and confer with forest guards walking in the park and occasional mahouts riding elephant back in search of the big cats.

And then it happens…sometimes by sitting in wait knowing a cat is there and hoping it will emerge and then other times it just appears! The whole experience is tracking skill and experienced guesses of the driver guides and their assistants, and much of it is also plain luck. The Aussies who were traveling along our schedule for a few days had the most upbeat and positive attitude and they had numerous sightings.After our days in the jungle the comments were: "Awesome!" This is what I came to see!" "When I got back to my room I couldn't sit down!"

Paired off in groups of 3-4 persons per jeep the first vehicle to have a spotting was with Vinod's—the very same local community guide that Wildland and our previous travels sponsored to participate in a local guide training program so that members of the local villages could participate more in tiger tourism, earn income from tiger conservation, and be ambassadors in their community to help protect tigers. It was great to meet Vinod personally and to see that he is now a full time hired guide at the Kanha Jungle Lodge—ask for him if you go!

Read the full itinerary for Wildland's Tigers and Travels in India here.

An Adventure in Nicaragua

(Note: This is a guest post from Christina Tunnah of World Nomads, who is supporting our partners in Nicaragua with funding through their Footprints Program. Read the full blog entry here.)

The final part of the trip was San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast, a launching off point for coast further south towards Costa Rica to see the Paso Pacifico and SEE Turtles project that World Nomads is supporting with your micro-donations. It is a real treat to see first-hand the needs and communities that Footprint Network funding helps.

This specific project centers on Nicaragua's Pacific slope,

a globally important nesting ground for four species of endangered sea turtle (Leatherback, Hawskbill, Green, and Olive Ridley) critically threatened by illegal egg poaching and destructive fishing practices (and unbridled tourism) that have depleted these populations to the edge of extinction. 


Footprints funding will help Paso Pacifico in employing locals to patrol nesting beaches (some of whom are former egg poachers), improving egg hatcheries managed by the women of El Ostional, and supporting the development of local ecotourism in 6 small rural villages along this stretch of coast.

Liza, who overseas the Paso Pacifico’s turtle conservation project, and Salvador, a Community Coordinator, met me in San Juan and we drove over 25 kilometres of jungle and dirt roads through stunning country to El Ostional and the several beaches where the project is focused. Our stop in La Flor coincided with a community picnic where the local schoolchildren were going to release hatchling turtles not even six hours old, into the water.

Like puppies with disproportionately sized paws, these little guys had adorably large flippers that begged the question "How could you not want to protect them?". In El Ostional I met the women who manage the hatchery and went by boat to see the nesting beaches along many kilometers of coastline that just eight rangers have the herculean task of protecting. I also passed through Hermosa Surf Camp where I spoke with a ranger about his challenges against poachers and tourists. The camp owner, a former mayor of the local town after years of Liza building a rapport, fully supports the conservation efforts and pays a ranger's salary and educates staff and surfers on the fragility of that beach's ecosystem.

Osa Sea Turtle Festival

(Guest post from Emily Angell of Osa Conservation)

September 18th represented the 3rd Annual Sea Turtle festival on Carate Beach. About 100 members of Carate, Puerto Jiménez, and surrounding communities participated in sea turtle discussions, presentations fun activities with the theme of conservation.

The festival began with an interactive discussion with children and adults about the principal biological characteristics of the Osa, the turtle species that nest here, and the objectives and activities of the Sea Turtle Conservation Program developed by Osa Conservation on the beaches of Piro, Pejeperro and Carate.

Club Ambiental Las Abejitas of the Saturnino Cedeño School, under Laura Castro’s direction, prepared a theatrical skit for the event about the life of a sea turtle and the natural hazards and human threats that they face as well as the precautions that we must take on the sea turtle nesting beaches.

Activities included games on the beach; turtle races and turtle sand castles, a quiz competition about Osa’s biodiversity and turtle activity booklet. All participants in the event received informative material about sea turtle conservation, stickers, posters, and t-shirts for those who correctly answered the most questions.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s event a success in raising awareness of the importance of conserving these incredible species.

Special thanks to:

SEE Turtles, Luna Lodge, La Leona Lodge, ASCONA, Finca Exótica, Dereck Ferguson, Hacienda Río Oro, the Bellanero family, ACOSA, Tranquility, Frontier, Lapa Rios, Hoja de Osa School, Club Ambiental Las Abejitas, Laura Castro, and Mauricio Gutiérrez.

Interview with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance

(Editor's note: This post is the first in a series of interviews we will be doing with our conservation partners and tour operators)

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance is a grassroots organization founded in 1978 to "promote the integrity, beauty, and stability of Alaska's ecosystems, support true subsistence hunting, and recognize the intrinsic value of wildlife.

They are a small organization but have won major

victories against powerful opponents in the state government. SEEtheWILD supports their work by donating 5% of the trip cost of our two trips to Alaska (more info on trips below).

We asked Connie Brandel, Office Administrator for AWA, a few questions about their work:

1. What are some of AWA's biggest accomplishments?

Despite a small budget, we have succeeded in protecting wildlife over the past 30 years, including:

1996: AWA initiated and won a statewide ballot measure to stop airborne wolf hunting. (Unfortunately, per state law, all referendums “sunset” after 2 years, so airborne wolf hunting resumed.)

2000: We succeeded in defeating a ballot measure which would have allowed the State Legislature to amend the State Constitution to take away the right of citizens to use the ballot initiative process to protect wildlife.

2008: We aggressively supported another ballot initiative to ban airborne wolf hunting, but were defeated, largely because the lieutenant governor changed wording of the ballot language so that “no”, not “yes” was a vote to ban the practice.

2010: Rallied with other groups to defeat the legislative confirmation of an anti-wildlife crusader / trapper nominated to serve on the Alaska Board of Game.

2011: Organized and presented a forum entitled “Climate Change: The Plight of Polar Bears and the Phenomenon of Global Warming Denial”. The forum was held in Juneau in April; is available on DVD; and we are hoping to make presentations elsewhere in Alaska and Outside.

2. It looks like the bear trapping issue is the lead priority at the moment, is that right?

Yes, bear snaring is a specific priority at this time. This program of mismanagement includes the killing of sows with cubs in unlimited numbers, destroying at least two generations of bears. However, it is part of our ongoing and vital mission to bring attention to and end the state’s gross mismanagement of its wildlife resources. This includes the increased hunting and trapping of bears, as well as the ongoing intensive predator control programs (i.e. killing) of wolves, both done primarily to increase prey (moose and caribou) for urban and out of state trophy hunters.

Representatives of AWA and other wildlife groups will be meeting with the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game to open a dialog regarding unscientific wildlife management such as this. Unfortunately, such programs have become the norm in Alaska.

3. Is that an issue where people from the lower 48 can participate and make a difference?

Yes! Alaska’s magnificent wildlife is a unique resource that all Americans, not just Alaskans, should be able to enjoy. Even for those in the Lower 48 who never have or perhaps never will have the opportunity to visit Alaska, there is a benefit to knowing that the state’s wildlife is managed for all user groups. Alaska’s wildlife should be managed for the goal of stable, naturally functioning ecosystems, not the benefit of a few rich trophy hunters.

4. Are there other ways people can get involved?

Join our email list to receive our Alerts (scroll down to see the form). People must let their pro-wildlife views be known wherever and whenever possible. Some suggestions: write letters to the editor to local papers; write to their own and Alaska’s Senators and Representative; write to Alaska’s governor, Commissioner of Fish & Game and Board of Game; become active in AWA and other pro-wildlife groups. You can also email photographs you have taken of Alaska's animals to them at nancy@akwildlife.org.

“AWA is proud to join SEEtheWILD in this innovative partnership. These excursions will provide visitors to Alaska a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about our living ecosystems, and the indigenous wildlife that make them so magnificent. This partnership encourages visitors to become active participants in our vital wildlife conservation efforts. To quote conservationist and author Lois Crisler, ‘Wilderness without wildlife is just scenery’ ”, says Executive Director John Toppenberg.

SEEtheWILD offers two trips to Alaska that benefit AWA's programs:

Alaska By Sail: Get close to wild Alaska's tidewater glaciers, humpback whales, and enter the ancient rainforests aboard the Maple Leaf schooner. From $5,925 pp (including a $300 donation to AWA at no extra charge to you) / July 2012

Glaciers & Grizzlies: Visit some of Alaska's best wildlife habitats, including Denali and Glacier Bay National Parks. From $6,250 pp (including a $300 donation to AWA at no extra charge to you) / June - August 2012

Speak Out For The Environment

As the Congressional Super Committee pores through the federal budget looking for areas to cut, one of the more likely areas for reductions is environmental and conservation programs. Even though these critical programs that protect our air, water, and wildlife have been cut roughly 65% over the past 30 years, there are still those who think we should cut further. The powerful committee is made up of many representatives that have been outwardly hostile to efforts to protect the environment, 5 of the 12 members have environmental scores below 50% from the League of Conservation Voters.

Funding that is at risk includes the Wildlife Without Borders Program of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, which provides millions of dollars to protect endangered species around the world. The soil and habitat conservation programs of the Farm Bill are a big target, even though most of the subsidies go to large commodity farms. There is also a risk that this process will be used to pass legislation that would not pass the regular process such as drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Everyone recognizes the need to cut back on wasteful spending in these difficult times. However, we believe this emergency should be used as an opportunity to reduce the spending that hurts the environment and our citizens, such as the billions in subsidies for profitable oil companies. Cutting small environmental programs that have helped millions is not the way to revive our economy.

Here are a few ways to get involved from our friends at the Nature Conservancy:

Sign the Pledge and proclaim your support for the health of our American wilderness and the creatures that live there.

Speak Up For Nature and call your congressman, write to your senator or attend a town hall meeting to show support for conservation programs.

Share Your Story and inspire others to get involved.