I am proud to announce that my name has been added to the Marine Turtle Permit that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Imperiled Species Management Section gives to the Coastal Wildlife Club every year which authorizes them to survey sea turtle nesting areas. There are 3 long term permit holders and several of us have been recently added on an existing permit. This authorizes us to, conduct nesting surveys, conduct stranding/salvage activities, relocate for conservation purposes, screen nests when needed and maintain and display preserved specimens.

These are the Loggerheads that nest on our beaches here, Caretta caretta. Yesterday I got to get very hands on. About 3 days after a nest has hatched, volunteers excavate the nest, look for surviving turtles, count the unhatched eggs if any and count the egg shells to know approximately how many were in the nest.

This excavation was especially important as Kate and Jacob, 2 samplers from the University of Florida were on hand to collect unhatched eggs and dead hatchlings. They are collecting data from many nests and trying to see if there is any connection with turtle mortality and the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this spring.

That's Wilma in the first photo digging the first nest and showing us how. 

I got to dig the the next 3, it was very interesting.  Emily loved it.

 The first nest I excavated had lots of unhatched eggs, they thought it might have been due to too much water over the nest.  We had a few big storms, one that actually washed out several nests.

 All three nests had egg shells, evidence that healthy turtles had hatched and made it out of the hole.  The average caretta lays about 100 eggs and that is about what we found in each nest.

One nest even had 2 baby turtles that were still alive and seemed to be stuck in their shells.  Those were kept in a bucket, on wet sand, with a towel over them until it got dark that night and then released to fend for themselves.  They fell asleep like all good babies.  Most reptile babies never see their parents.....

We felt really good that we had saved 2 baby turtles!

The cry of El Grito!

Viva Mexico Independence!

200 years!

September 16, 1810  -  September 16, 2010 

It is interesting that they celebrate this date that is the start of the war of independence, it was not until August 24, 1821 that the war ended and Mexico had thrown off the Spanish parasite.

I wish I were there to take part in the celebrations today, they are going to be fabulous! 

The Mexicans know how to celebrate.

This year is also the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, which is celebrated on the day it started as it too took over 10 years for Mexico to go from a dictatorship to a constitutional republic.

More celebrating on November 20th of this year.

Viva Mexico Revolution!

Viva Mexico!

New hope for Tenacatita......

http://guadalajarareporter.com/news-mainmenu-82/pacific-coast-mainmenu-87/27539-federal-legislators-weigh-in-on-tenacatita-beach-conflict.html

Guadalajara Reporter, Friday, September 10, 2010.

Federal Legislators Weigh in on Tenacatita Beach Conflict

"Increased pressure is being put on the state governor to lift the police blockade in Tenacatita and reopen road access to one of Jalisco’s most popular and unspoiled beaches. Legislators in the federal Chamber of Deputies (Mexico’s lower house) unanimously passed a motion Tuesday calling for state authorities to reopen the highway leading to Tenacatita beach and banish the police officers and private security guards preventing the public from visiting the beach.

Jalsico Governor Emilio Gonzalez has not responded to calls to reopen the road leading to the Tenacaita beach.

The legislators also resolved to set up a working committee to keep an eye on the situation at the beach, which is now virtually inaccessible to the public and patrolled by guards in the employ of wealthy Guadalajara businessman Andres Villalobos, as well as a few armed state police officers.

Villalobos has closed off the road – the only access to the public beach – since the beginning of last month when he won a court injunction to evict dozens of families, who for decades had been living and working on a disputed swath of land adjoining the beach.

The violent eviction – involving 150 armed state police officers – outraged members of the local farm commune (ejido), who have claimed possession of the land since the 1960s and were granted land titles through a federal titling program in 2006. Villalobos, on the other hand, says he purchased the land in 1991 and obtained the federal beach concession in 1993.

Families evicted said police officers used excessive force during the eviction (tear gas and rubber bullets were utilized, it was reported), although Villalobos maintains it was his staff and police that came under the severest attack.

Legislators this week asked the federal government to “intervene” in the dispute to “avoid social instability in the region.”

They also want the federal government, through the Registro Agrario Nacional, to “reevaluate” the boundaries in dispute in order to “find a solution between all those involved.”

Many foreign citizens are caught up in the dispute, as members of the ejido have been selling off plots of titled land in the past few years. As many as 20 foreigners who bought beachfront land in Tenacatita are now no longer able to access their plots. Some have filed suits in state or federal courts but Villalobos maintains the case over ownership of the land has reached its two-decade conclusion, and therefore the ejido has no more legal recourse. Thus, he says, he was entitled to take possession of his property and has no obligation to respect any other ruling, regardless of the court it is filed in.

As of press time, Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez had not responded to the legislators’ concerns, nor had he answered a call from the State Human Rights Commission to open up the road to the beach.

Gonzalez has been accused of being in collusion with Villalobos, although he has tried to distance himself from the affair. It is no secret, however, that he is keen to see massive tourism development in the area known as Costa Alegre, that stretches from Barra de Navidad in the south to Chamela in the north. The governor is already embroiled in a similar confrontation with locals in Chalacatepec further north, near Tomatlan, where the government is heavily involved in developing a mega-project he has labelled the “New Cancun.”

La Huerta’s municipal government has thrown its weight behind the evicted residents but state officials appear to be obstructing all their legal moves.

According to Publico newspaper, Gustavo Moises Toledo Martinez, the Ministerio Publico (state district attorney) official in La Huerta, refused to listen to the complaints of around 100 evicted citizens filed against Villalobos’ real estate company Inmobiliaria Rodenas. Only when La Huerta’s mayor accompanied them to the office was Toledo forced to hear them out, said Salvador Magaña, a former councilman and representative of the ejido.

Meanwhile, Villalobos has appeared on several “friendly” television channels in Guadalajara to justify his actions. He seems to have no sympathy for the people he has evicted, many who are now reported to be facing severe economic hardship, since they can no longer sell seafood to visitors at their beachfront palapas.

Apart from Rodenas, Villalobos runs a successful security company, Sepromex, that is a major provider of services and private guards to the Jalisco state government. He also sits on a government security commission. He is the current president of Expo Guadalajara and a former president of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce, an organization that is backing him fully in this dispute. (The current president of the chamber sat next to him at a recent press conference when he defended his actions.)

Villalobos’ connections in the state government and with local politicians run deep and he has publicly congratulated Gonzalez for his “bravery” in helping him evict the low-income families of Tenacatita. His lawyer could not tell this newspaper how much his client paid for the 42 hecatares of land in dispute, but Proceso magazine reported recently that it was a “ganga” – a bargain or rock-bottom price. He says the land had previously been in the hands of the widow of former Jalisco governor Jesus Gonzalez Gortazar.

Sepromex is included in the list of government providers published on the state government website. Its address is Pedro Moreno 1336, Colonia Americana, Guadalajara. The telephone numbers are (33) 3825-5200 and 3825-5202."

Hope, a beautiful thing.

I will not live in fear.

Oh I am so in love with my new grandson!