For 10 years, Lisa Reich patrolled St Pete Beach as a supervisor for the Sea Turtle Trackers, a local non-profit protecting sea turtles nesting activities and rescuing those in distress. Year after year she witnessed the nature vs. development battle on St Pete Beach. Thousands of endangered sea turtle hatchlings made it safely to the water; thousands more ended up disoriented…lured to lights of condos and hotels and died in pools, dunes or roads.
Plenty of protection organizations have “boots on the ground” protecting wildlife, but the Fish and Wildlife Commission is stretched thin. Code enforcement to protect wildlife can be hit or miss. Many property owners and visitors just don’t know how their actions affect our local wildlife.
Lisa and local activist, Maria Erickson teamed up to form a new non-profit to fill a gap…to educate and train local coastal property owners in best practices and hold local governments accountable for enforcing ordinances.
As a new non-profit organization (August 2022), the mission of the Coastal Wildlife Advocacy Group is to ensure the survival of coastal wildlife and protection of their natural coastal habitats upon which they depend. We accomplish our mission through education, training and advocacy…ETA. “Our ETA is now!”
For the love of humankind.