NEST ATV Captain Bob North is shown above with representatives of Southern Insurance Agency, Inc. (from left to right: Chris Stafford, Carol Sober, Jackie Chunn, and Lindsey Dail)
Network for Endangered Sea Turtles (N.E.S.T.) was very fortunate to have several local businesses recently sponsor a N.E.S.T. ATV run for the next 5 years. These sponsorships helped to provide a storage box for the back of each ATV which holds safety equipment, nesting site markers, signs, stakes, and informational brochures to hand out to the public.
NEST ATV Captains Jackie Orsulak and John Warner are shown representing Rose Harrison & Gilreath, P.C.
Much of the work N.E.S.T. volunteers provide requires coverage of 60 miles of beach on the Outer Banks and without the use of ATVs this would be nearly impossible.
From May through August every year, our volunteers patrol the beaches from the Virginia state line to South Nags Head, looking for and monitoring endangered sea turtle nests and hatchlings. One ATV can cover approximately 2,500 miles during this period.
NEST ATV Captain Jim Bailey (left) is shown with Tim Moore of Joe Lamb Realty.
Additionally, volunteers use the ATVs to monitor all the current nests on their runs. It takes five ATVs and several volunteers to do these runs every day during the nesting period. Without them, a majority of nests and their hatchlings may go unnoticed and unprotected, resulting in a much higher fatality rate. In 2012, N.E.S.T. volunteers found and protected 26 sea turtle nests on the Outer Banks.
NEST ATV Captain John Warner (left) is shown with John White of Stan White Realty & Construction.
N.E.S.T. is very grateful to the following business sponsors for their continued support:
- Carova Rentals (Corolla north run)
- Joe Lamb Realty (Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills run)
- Rose Harrison & Gilreath, P.C. (Duck run)
- Southern Insurance Agency, Inc. (Corolla south run)
- Stan White Realty & Construction (Nags Head run)
- Twin County Motorsports (spare)
NEST ATV Captains Bob North (left) and John Warner are shown representing Carova Rentals.
N.E.S.T., Inc. is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization committed to protecting endangered and threatened sea turtles and their habitat on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, from the Virginialine to Oregon Inlet. N.E.S.T. seeks to provide safe nesting and hatching areas; response to stranded sea turtles; rehabilitation for sick, injured, or cold-stunned sea turtles; and education for the community and its visitors on the needs of these threatened and endangered sea turtles. It relies solely on funds from private and public sources to support its activities. For more information about N.E.S.T., please contact us at (252) 441-8622 or visit us online at https://www.nestonline.org/.