Thank you for your interest in volunteering with the Alabama Coastal Foundation's Share the Beach program. Volunteer sign up for the 2025 season opens in March so please tour our web site and click here to sign up for our free updates.

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The objectives of the Alabama Coastal Foundation's Share the Beach program are:

• To mitigate human-related impacts to sea turtles, especially the effects of artificial light pollution;

• To monitor sea turtle nests and hatchlings on the Alabama Gulf Coast; and,

• To promote the conservation of sea turtles in Alabama through public outreach and education.

 

Sea turtle monitoring in Alabama started in 2003 and two years later the Friends of the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge founded Share the Beach, an all volunteer program. Once the program became to large at the end of 2016, the Friends group asked ACF to lead Share the Beach and that transition happened in January of 2018. This program follows protocols set forth by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the federal endangered species recovery permit. Volunteers can help protect the nesting sea turtles and their habitat under these guidelines.

 

Share the Beach volunteers patrol the beach, educate the public and school groups, conduct late-night nest observations, and assist with supply and equipment preparations. The dedicated volunteers of the Share the Beach program help ensure the support and protection of these popular endangered ocean creatures when they are just tiny turtles beginning their journey.

 

We ask that you take the time to learn more about our little marine friends, and how you can recognize their nests, increase their chances of survival, and support the volunteers who Share the Beach with them each year.