St. Pete Beach to get new baby turtle-friendly lights (4.08.10)

By: Noah Pransky

From WTSP 10connects.com

ST. PETE BEACH, Florida - Bruno Falkenstein has been walking the beach for 30 years looking for endangered sea turtles and - by his count - he's helped find, mark, and deliver between 25,000 and 30,000 baby turtles.

But few pieces of news have been as welcome to Falkenstein as when the Pinellas County Coastal Mangement Department awarded the city a grant to replace its old lightposts along Gulf Way with new, turtle-friendly lights. The new lights, going in this month, will direct light downward instead of outward, where they could confuse baby turtles on the beach.

"It's great news," Falkenstein said. "It means if a nest does hatch too early, we're not going to have to worry about it as much. Because (the turtles) are going to go out to the water."

Turtle nesting season begins on May 1st and Falkenstein says the nesting gets pretty active within a week or two. He'll soon begin his daily four-mile walks up and down the beach at 4:30 a.m. to look for turtle nests.

Click here to view the video news clip on the turtle-friendly lights

From WTSP 10connects.com

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