The endangered loggerhead sea turtle has allies on the sand. Despite historic trends of the species’ decline, the tides have been changing.

The sea turtles take nearly 30 years before females can reproduce, making conservation efforts a long-term game. Conservationists have started to see a return on investment after years of their efforts. They have seen increasing success rates of hatchings starting in the early 2000s, and spiked in 2014. According to seaturtle.org, this year’s nest count has already surpassed 2021’s nest count by over 2,000 nests.

This species, which is millions of years old, has been unable to adapt fast enough to rapidly changing environmental conditions and man-made dangers. Erosion on many of South Carolina’s coastal islands has vastly changed the landscape of many of loggerhead turtles’ most popular nesting grounds.

Jerry Tupacz, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge specialist at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, has worked on these islands for over 17 years. He has yet to see the generation of turtles that he began working with in 2005 come back to nest.

"I’d like to think I’ll be doing this for another 10 years, but we’ll see," Tupacz said. "In my mind, I’ll be coming back as a volunteer to see them."

Tupacz claims that changing tides have greatly reduced areas of beach area viable for nesting on all the islands under his watch. “You don’t need big events to make this stuff happen. I watch almost 20-35 feet of beach lost every year,” he said.

Humans also pose a great danger to these turtles. Fishing lines and boat propellers make up the largest two human-made threats at Cape Romain, but light pollution on more populated beaches interferes with turtles making their way to the water.

“Humans are responsible for the devastation in the first place. If the humans won’t help them, the species will cease to exist,” said Michael Barnett, a frequent volunteer at Cape Romain and an avid conservation photographer with a large Instagram following.

During the six month nesting season, turtle specialists and volunteer patrols work tirelessly on beaches all along the coast of South Carolina. In recent years, volunteering in sea turtle conservation has become very popular.

Mary Pringle, the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island Turtle Patrol project manager, said the group has 170, or “way too many”, volunteers, in addition to a lengthy waitlist. More remote and turtle-dense nesting areas often get less attention, volunteers and funding than groups that cover more accessible and people-heavy nesting beaches. This leaves staff at places like Cape Romain often overworked, but they still press on through the labor-intensive work.

"One of these days I won't be so tired after I get off and I'll go fishing," Tupacz said.