Franklin County gets preliminary approval for sea turtle grant

Franklin County has received preliminary approval for a grant through the US Fish and Wildlife Service to help protect nesting sea turtles.

The “Restoring the Night Sky” grant could provide about 34 thousand dollars a year over the next four years to help educate people about and enforce Franklin County’s sea turtle lighting ordinance.

Franklin County has one of the larger sea turtle nesting populations on the Gulf Coast and the grant would provide money to increase education and compliance with the county’s sea turtle lighting ordinance.

Sea turtles can be disoriented by house lights and the county has a rule requiring turtle safe lighting on homes along the beach.

County administrative director Alan Pierce said there are still about 140 homes and businesses that are causing light issues, though many of them may not be covered under the county rule.

If the grant is approved, some of the money would be used to hire a part-time code enforcement officer to visit some of the homes and businesses and offer assistance in bringing their outdoor lighting under control.

The grant would also be able to help cover some of the costs of retrofitting some of the lights.

County extension agent Bill Mahan said final approval of the grant is dependent on making some minor technical revisions to the grant application.

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