Sea Turtle Habitat in Puerto Rico

Nope, I am not wearing my peace, love, and turtle tee shirt this morning but I do have some hopeful good news to report about the Northeast Ecological Corridor in Puerto Rico, a major nesting site for the world’s largest sea turtle (2,000 pounders, actually), the endangered leatherback. The Northeast Ecological Corridor consists of almost 3,000 acres on Puerto Rico’s northeast coast and it is now after a 15 year battle between environmentalists and developers protected by law. The Northeast Ecological Corridor is one of the top 3 nesting sites for leatherbacks in the entire US and accessible by a couple of dirt roads. It’s a great place for bird watching. It also has miles of beautiful beaches with healthy coral ecosystems, wetlands, forests, dry forests, mangroves, and a seasonal bioluminescent lagoon. A bioluminescent lagoon is definitely something I would like to see in my lifetime.

Designating and protecting the Northeast Ecological Corridor, a victory for the environmental activists, is really a victory not only for the highly endangered turtles, but also for the rest of the more than 800 other types of flora and fauna that can be found there and for us and generations to come in the long run too.