A sea turtle nest exposed in the side of a beach escarpment. Hurricane Irma brought severe weather to the Treasure Coast, with top wind speeds in St. Lucie County reaching 100 mph on South Hutchinson Island. EAI monitors sea turtle nesting on the southernmost ten miles of Hutchinson Island, in St. Lucie and Martin Counties, […]

EAI is excited to announce some of its newest projects which expand both our service offerings and our geographic reach. As part of the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hired Manson Construction Co. for the Cat Island Beach and Dune Fill Restoration Project in Harrison County, Mississippi. We are a […]

EAI’s Amber Stevenson oversees and coordinates the work of the New Smyrna Beach Turtle Trackers and they do an amazing job for sea turtles in Volusia County. The NSB Turtle Trackers are an all-volunteer staff of more than 20, who monitor the beach between Ponce Inlet and Canaveral National Seashore (10.9 miles) every morning for […]

EAI once again participated in the Martin County Lionfish Round-Up held in June. This year EAI was a proud sponsor and fielded two teams of four divers each. Although we did not finish in first place…or second place…or third place, our teams had a blast and were happy to contribute to this worthy cause. The […]

Senior EAI staff attended the 31st Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School in Fort Lauderdale from July 18-21, 2017. The conference covered a variety of topics related to environmental policy and permitting. The EAI team divided and conquered, attending courses on: Environmental policy Energy policy and renewable energy expansion Environmental resources planning, permitting, and conservation in […]

The 2017 sea turtle nesting season has been very successful with EAI documenting over 9,475 loggerhead, 3,200 green turtle, and 176 leatherback nests within its survey areas in Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River Counties. As peak hatching season approaches, please remember that hatchlings can become disoriented and crawl toward artificial light sources. Please ensure […]

Martin County recently completed a project to replace sand on Bathtub Beach on the east coast of Florida. Beach renourishment includes the dumping or pumping of sand from elsewhere (i.e., sand borrow sites) onto an eroding beach often to widen the existing beach and protect public and private property. This beach renourishment operation included the […]

EAI has presented at two conferences in 2017. In February, EAI presented at the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association’s Technical Conference in Stuart, FL and in April the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Las Vegas, NV. EAI Biologist Joe Scarola presented his innovative nighttime lighting survey process that helps local jurisdictions ensure their shorelines […]

In December 2016, managers of a St. Lucie County Habitat for Humanity project found that, while construction was halted for the holidays, some gopher tortoises took up residence on the construction site. EAI volunteered to help. Our biologists discovered four gopher tortoise burrows during an initial survey of the construction site. Given the time of […]

The past few months have provided great opportunities for EAI to expand existing staff roles and hire new staff. Current employees who have expanded their roles include Carrie Goethel who is now our Laboratory Manager, Andrew Luering who is now the Field Technician Supervisor in our Environmental Resources group. Ryan Dulfer is now a full-time […]