Endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle numbers gradually continue to climb at Padre Island National Seashore. A key to this success has been the efforts of NPS turtle patrollers to locate nest sites so that heavy equipment being shuttled up and down the beach by oil and gas operators en route to production sites does not crush the turtles, their nests, or hatchlings, or impede hatchlings from getting to the ocean.

IN WHAT HAS NOW BECOME a familiar south Texas rite of spring at Padre Island National Seashore, “turtle patrollers” mount their ATVs and comb the beach for nesting Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, the most critically endangered sea turtle in the world. From the 1950s to the 1980s, humans caused the population of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles to decline nearly to the point of extinction. Through a remarkable international effort involving Mexico, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Park Service, the turtles are making a comeback.

A challenge in protecting their nesting sites is ensuring that heavy equipment being shuttled up and down the beach by oil and gas operators en route to production sites does not crush the turtles, their nests, or hatchlings, or impede hatchlings from getting to the ocean. Oil and gas rights existed at Padre Island long before Congress created this unit of the National Park System, and these rights are still held by private entities and the state. However, the park has skillfully applied regulations and well-tailored mitigation techniques to oil and gas operations, playing a key role in the Kemp’s ridley’s recovery.

A key right associated with mineral ownership is that of reasonable access across the surface to explore for, develop, and transport the oil and gas resources. If the National Park Service denied all surface access to the mineral rights holders, the United States would be required to purchase the mineral rights at fair market value. So, despite Padre Island National Seashore’s designation as a unit of the National Park System, and the United States’ ownership of the surface interest, mineral resources are still being developed in the unit.

Another important mitigation measure is heavy equipment convoys lead by NPS turtle patrol escorts.

Regulations promulgated in 1979 require that operators have a National Park Service–approved plan of operations, which will include resource protection measures, provide a reclamation plan, and file a suitable performance bond. Through this requirement the National Park Service can proactively ensure that operators avoid or mitigate expected impacts on park resources and values.

To protect the nesting Kemp’s ridley, for instance, an operator is required to comply with the following partial list of mitigation measures at Padre Island National Seashore:

• Operator’s employees and contractors must attend an NPS turtle training and awareness course, which includes identification of turtle tracks, a notification protocol to follow in the event that turtles or nesting grounds are located, and marking the location of tracks or nests if an employee or contractor is unable to stay on-site until official crew members arrive.
  
  
• During peak Kemp’s ridley nesting season, operators’ vehicle convoys will not leave before an NPS turtle patrol inspects the beach ahead of them and notifies operators that larger vehicles can travel the beach safely.
  
  
• ATVs and large trucks must drive no faster than 15 miles per hour.
  
  
• Trucks are required to drive above the “wet-line” on the beach so that turtle tracks can be identified.
  
  
• A backhoe or tractor must be stationed on the beach to smooth out ruts after having a monitor on an ATV check for nesting turtles or tracks.
  
  
• Larger vehicles are prohibited from traveling at night to minimize impacts on night-nesting turtles, which include the green, loggerhead, hawksbill, and leatherback.

With these mitigation measures the park has successfully protected Kemp’s ridley nests. It has never documented a hatchling death, death of a nesting sea turtle, or crushing of a sea turtle nest by an oil and gas operator since the program began 25 years ago. In addition, the Kemp’s ridley population has slowly but steadily increased since the mid-1980s.

Although it is certain that the absence of mineral development at Padre Island National Seashore would lower the risk to the Kemp’s ridley’s recovery, the park has succeeded in fulfilling Congress’s directive to manage resources while recognizing the rights of mineral operators to access the surface and develop their property interest.

last updated 4/13/2004