Scientists fear for the world’s most endangered sea turtle as the Park Service cuts back

Every summer, thousands of people travel to Padre Island National Seashore at dawn to cheer on sea turtle hatchlings as they are released into the surf. In a recent report, agency officials proposed sweeping changes to the park’s conservation efforts that scientists said would make it significantly more difficult, if not impossible, to establish a thriving population of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on the island. “I do think the gains we have achieved in the last decade will be undermined.” Lawyers with the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed a legal complaint on Wednesday with the National Park Service on behalf of one of the park’s employees, Donna Shaver, chief of the Sea Turtle Science and Recovery Program. In a statement sent after this story was published online, Brunnemann said: “The National Park Service’s only plan forward is to strengthen the program, which is built by the support of our employees and volunteers.” In 1978, when the Kemp’s ridley nesting program at Padre Island began, the species was in such peril that biologists began sending them to zoos and aquariums, convinced the turtles were on the brink of extinction. “It’s definitely a money-grab, in my opinion,” said Jeff George, the executive director of Sea Turtle Inc, a privately run rescue center on South Padre Island.