In 2023, the Parks Foundation provided funding to Miami-Dade County’s first-ever World Sea Turtle Day event, celebrated with a community beach cleanup at Haulover Park.

Miami-Dade Parks’ Sea Turtle Conservation team is charged with monitoring and recording all sea turtle nesting activity along the county’s 19 miles of beaches, which are maintained by Miami-Dade County Parks year-round. The team responds to sea turtle rescue and stranding year-round. In the 2023 season, the team surveyed 702 sea turtle nests, a 5% increase in nesting from 2022, and responded to a total of 60 sea turtle strandings. In addition, the team’s 33 community events engaged over 3,500 participants; these included 15 sea turtle hatchling releases and 3 public nest excavations.

In 2023, Parks’ Sea Turtle Conservation team designed and implemented 63 events that engaged and educated over 4,300 community participants on sea turtle conservation, including 10 sea turtle hatchling releases, 5 public nest excavations, 10 coastal cleanups and 38 Adopt-A-Nest sponsorships.

Sea turtles are a recognized indicator of the health of the world’s oceans and are acknowledged as a stabilizing force for coastal habitats. The Parks Foundation is proud to support the Miami-Dade County Parks Sea Turtle Conservation team, which has led sea turtle protection and conservation in Miami-Dade County for over 40 years.