A pound of flesh to save a nest. Rachel after a crash in the jungle during nest patrol. She is one tough competitor and has had a large impact on survival of our Sea Turtles on Punta Pargos.
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Rachel Ward has been a driving force behind the mission from the time it was just a dream, a dream that we could save one nest and then possibly save the Sea Turtle from extinction on Punta Pargos. Rachel and myself ( M.Ward) were the first ones to hit the beach, alone but determined we got tired of trying to find help and we just got out there in the night and started doing it.
Rachel was there when we patrolled on bicycles, she took a terrible fall one night, lost about a pound of flesh, and still managed to finish the patrol, then she was out of the loop for 10 days. Before she was totally healed she was back out on patrol. This was the first time we decided we had to rent a car if we were going to continue the patrol efficiently.
During the 05/06 season Rachel was pregnant so her patrol responsibility was taken off her plate. But she still insisted on doing evening patrols, which were under-manned,to cover the early night high tides, she patrolled until she was 7.5 months pregnant( the baby is perfect). She still took part in every school seminar and also did nest reclaimation during the day. I have never seen anyone work so hard to change a wrong, she has been a turtle gaurdian angel.
Rachel coordinates STF day to day operations and is usually working on four or five projects at once, we are finally finding enough volunteers to relieve her of some of her overwhelming responsibilities. I have no idea how we could of survived without her total dedication to our project.
Rachel has also spearheaded our educational program, even publishing our marine turtle conservation coloring book which we use in our class rooms.Rachel has put in more time on STF than any other volunteer.
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