Month: June 2020

By Jamie Clayton

GSTC AmeriCorps/Volunteer Program Manager

Since 2009, the Jekyll Island Authority’s Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC) and Conservation department have had one of the most innovative AmeriCorps programs in the United States. The AmeriCorps GSTC program members contribute to rehabilitation, research and education to conserve sea turtles. They also promote environmental stewardship through providing visitors and members a deeper understanding of conservation, their roles in the ecosystem, and actions they can take to make a difference. Members experience significant personal and professional growth thanks to the advanced instruction and training combined with meaningful service gained from unique extracurricular opportunities that come from living with a diverse member cohort on Jekyll Island.

In its 11-year history, AmeriCorps GSTC members have come from 40 of the 50 states, totaling 197 service members.  Of those, 53 members have served multiple terms of service.  Repeat terms of service has proven the program provides an exceptional experience to its members.

Further, the AmeriCorps GSTC program works to follow-up with its service members after leaving their final terms of service.  Currently, 38 alumni are attending graduate school/have graduated, including 1 who is pursuing a doctoral degree (PhD). Another alumni completed their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree and is now working on post doctorate training in wildlife medicine. Additionally, 78 alumni are working in conservation, veterinary medicine, education or science careers following their service with the GSTC.

Occasionally, an alumni’s career will bring him or her back to Jekyll Island.  The Wildlife Manager for Jekyll Island Authority is an alumni who is a two-tour U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was named a Tillman Fellow by the Pat Tillman Foundation due in part to the skills gained at the GSTC, has completed a Master of Science (MS) degree, and was recognized by the Georgia State Commissioner at the AmeriCorps 20^th Anniversary celebration last year.

In the summer of 2019, AmeriCorps members (ACM) were recognized in three The Brunswick News articles highlighting the conservation, research, education and rehabilitation departments.  AmeriCorps has existed for over 25 years, with the AmeriCorps GSTC program having been partnered for 11. The GSTC looks to the future for continued partnered for many years to come.

The AmeriCorps GSTC program could not be successful without the support from YOU, the Jekyll Island Foundation’s donors.  To support the ongoing work of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center text GiveJekyll + $ amount to (844) 889-2692. 

By Alexa Orndoff

JIA Director of Marketing & Communications

With nearly two years of evaluating and planning, alongside intensive testing and quality assurance phases, a new gate entry system is now in operation on Jekyll Island. Featuring intuitive touch screens and informative visual displays, the system is designed to make trips onto the island more efficient and convenient for visitors, residents, employees of island businesses, and service providers. In addition to the new technology deployed at the entry gates, an enhanced online portal has been launched to improve the process for annual pass purchases and renewals and allow for single or multi-day passes to be purchased in advance of arrival.

“People frequently tell us they feel a sense of calm when they turn onto the causeway, knowing they will soon be on Jekyll Island,” said Jerod Myers, Guest Information Center Manager. “In that spirit, the new system is designed to be even more user-friendly and predictable for everyone, whether they are coming for a visit or coming home.”

Overhead digital display screens offer advisory messages based on gate traffic, including identifying which lane is designated for annual pass members. Additional displays located in the causeway median prompt when drivers should stop or proceed, maintaining ideal spacing between vehicles and ensuring traffic approaching the gates flows smoothly. Durable foam gate arms with faster response times also reduced delays for motorists entering the island.

Using improved payment kiosks, guests can tailor multi-day purchases that fit their travel plans. License plate recognition cameras identify vehicles for which annual passes have been purchased, eliminating the need for windshield-mounted decals or prox cards. The cameras will also serve additional security and safety operations.

With the new entry gate system fully operational, the Jekyll Island Authority can more accurately calculate the number of vehicles on the island, providing valuable information that can be used in planning and allocation of island resources. The need for better entry gate data collection was identified in the Jekyll Island Carrying Capacity and Infrastructure Study. Completed in 2018, it is used to determine the number of people, vehicles, and development that the island can accommodate while still maintaining its unique character.

By Andrea Marroquin

JIA Museum Curator

This year marks the 100^th Anniversary of the passage of the 19^th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s right to vote. Many Jekyll Island Club families were actively engaged in leading the fight for women’s suffrage. The Jekyll Island Club’s prominent suffragists and suffragettes included Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Julia Langdon Barber, Katherine Dexter McCormick, and Narcissa and Frank Vanderlip. These men and women marched in parades, organized petitions, spoke at rallies, donated funds, and hosted teas in support of women’s right to vote. 

As leaders of such organizations as the Political Equality League, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, the National Women’s Party, and the League of Women Voters, these socially prominent men and women added their celebrity, connections, wealth, and influence to attract attention and support for the women’s suffrage movement. With help from their efforts, the women’s suffrage movement celebrated a momentous victory 100 years ago. The 19^th Amendment to the Constitution was signed into law on August 26, 1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote. 

An interpretive display provided by the National Archives is currently on exhibit at Mosaic, the Jekyll Island Museum, covering this landmark moment in American history.  Stayed tuned for upcoming programs highlighting the role of Jekyll Island Club families in the fight for women’s right to vote.

Mosaic, the Jekyll Island Museum offers a variety of experiences for the whole family.  Visit our interactive museum gallery or take a historic district tour, to discover the many Jekyll Island historic figures whose legacies have shaped our nation, past and present. 

Please  visit our website for details and tour reservations.  For more information, please visit jekyllisland.com/history or call 912.635.4036.

By Ben Carswell

JIA Director of Conservation

With support from the Jekyll Island Foundation, The Jekyll Island Authority has been closely monitoring nesting Wilson’s plovers on the island since 2015. Although these shorebirds are declining across most of their range and are classified as Threatened by the State of Georgia, we’ve been glad to see a generally upward trend in the number of nesting pairs that reproduce on Jekyll between March and July each summer.

One result of the increase in nesting pairs is that we are now seeing these birds nest in places that they had not been using. As the population rebuilds from a low point of just one nesting pair reported in 2009, all the available territory taken quickly in what had been the corps nesting grounds on the island’s southern point, or Glory Beach. That’s great news, unless you are a plover pair looking for a vacancy, in which case, you’ll need look elsewhere.

For the past two years, we’ve monitored several plover nests in the dunes along the island’s busier, central beaches. Because these would-be plover parents are using areas more heavily trafficked by people and outside of the no-pet-zone on the south end, which was established to help their recovery, they are exposed to more stress and threats. This year, two nests near Oceanview Beach Park had close brushes with a loose dog and a free-roaming domestic cat. Thankfully the nests ended up hatching a total of six chicks.

We are very encouraged to find that even Jekyll’s more developed and frequented beaches can support Wilson’s Plover reproduction. This kind of adaptability may help save the species, but we cannot take it for granted. Without the awareness, care, and responsibility of beachgoers and pet owners, Wilson’s plovers could easily lose the ground they’ve gained on Jekyll.

You can help protect nesting plovers and other shorebirds by keeping pets on-leash, spaying/neutering and keeping cats indoors, and steering clear of sand dune areas above the tide line, including the smallest, youngest dunes closest to the beach. Plovers like to nest in these the most! To learn more about our conservation efforts, visit JekyllIsland.com/Conservation or to help bird conservation and research efforts on Jekyll Island, GIVE NOW.