Environmental Learning Center at Edisto Beach State Park

It’s #tidbittuesday with @scstateparks !! This Tuesday we’re demonstrating how to release a flounder, and talking about fishing conservation with Ranger Daniel 🎣 To watch our official tidbit on Facebook click the link 🔗: /share/v/1BV8FuSt9R/?mibextid=wwXIfr #fishing #edistobeachstatepark #saltwaterfıshing #conservation #scstateparks

Day 1 of “Come find our first nest with us” 🐢🌅 Sea turtle nesting season officially starts today, and we’re out here at sunrise patrolling the beach, looking for that very first nest of the year 👀 No luck yet…. but that just means we’ll be back tomorrow! When do you think we will find the first nest, place your guess in the comments below ⬇️ ✨While we wait for the mama turtles to arrives, here are a few simple ways that YOU can help protect them while you’re at the beach: 🕳️ Fill in holes before you leave 🏰 Knock down sandcastles ♻️ Keep the beach clean (pack it in, pack it out) 🏖️ Take all your beach furniture with you 🌌 Keep the beach dark with no flashlights or flash photography 📏 and if you happen to come across a sea turtle, to avoid disturbance, it is very important that you watch from a distance and out of her line of sight Every small action makes a big difference during the nesting season 💚 Follow along as we search for our first nest…will tomorrow be the day?! #turtlepatrol #seaturtleseason #scstateparks #wildlifeconservation #edistobeachstatepark

Spring has sprung and now we’re headed into summer! ☀️🐢 We are so excited for our May programs, from fishing and crabbing, to learning about our alligators and helping to feed our animals! Swipe to see our program descriptions and how to register online. We’ll see you at the ELC! #scstateparks

Our black drum, Ringo is going on an adventure!! ✨🐟 Swipe to the end to see him eat out of our hand 🖐️ Working with Bass Pro Shops aquarists, Ringo is being transferred to the 10,000 gallon saltwater tank at the Bass Pro Shop in Myrtle Beach, SC. After a year and a half of keeping him, he was becoming bigger than our 650 gallon Main Tank is designed to handle, and so the careful decision was made to find him a new home. The transfer to a bigger aquarium is the best for him to continue his growth into a full-size 100+ pound giant! At Myrtle Beach, he was weighed, measured, and had skin and gill biopsies to test for potential pathogens, and was placed in a 450 gallon circular quarantine tank where he will stay for the next 30 days undergoing some chemical treatments before moving to their display tank. So far, he will be the only black drum in the display tank, so say hey to him when you see him at Bass Pro! Be on the lookout for some new fish in our Main Tank as we work to replace Ringo. We’ll miss our Ringo, but we’re so happy that he’s going to a good home! 🐟 Thank you to Bass Pro Shops for taking Ringo in! #fish #aquarium #scstateparks #bassproshops #nature

Hungry, Hungry Fish!! 🍽️ Relax and watch us feed our 650 gallon saltwater fish tank in the ELC! 👀 The food you see is a mixture of cut shrimp, squid, and fish that we feed to all of our aquatic animals to ensure a healthy diet. We will also add live minnows for the ladyfish, goldfish flakes for our mullet, as well as mussels and snails for the burrfishes on occasion. And our black drum, Ringo, eats everything—even out of our hands! 🙌 How often do we feed this tank? 3 times a week! The fish in this tank are well fed and don’t burn calories as fast as we do, meaning we can space out feedings. If we fed them every day the fish could become unhealthy, and the excess fish waste and uneaten food could overload the bio-filter and lower water quality, causing ammonia and nitrite spikes that are toxic to fish. One of our important tasks is to prepare all this food for all the animals, which involves cutting the food into specific pieces and measured quantities, and to develop and follow feeding procedures for each tank so our staff know how to, what foods to offer, and when to feed each animal! Come and see these amazing, native SC fish in person at the ELC on your next visit, and ask how we care for each animal! #scstateparks #fish #aquarium #nature #animalcare

Happy Valentine's Day from the animals at the ELC! Don't be cold-blooded, send these cute puns to your valentine! #valentinesday #funny #animals #scstateparks

🐢INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY 🐢 Do you love sea turtles, the environment and education? Then this may be the perfect opportunity for you to gain hands on experience this summer! ☀️ Edisto Beach State Park is looking for college-level interns, in a related area of study, to help protect nesting loggerhead sea turtles and assist at the Environmental Learning Center (ELC). ✨Are you interested to learn more? Check out the internship posting for more information and to learn how to apply: https://jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id=104731

Join us in February for some exciting programs! We hope to see you soon! Swipe to see how to register online for some of our programs! #scstateparks

Our new salt marsh seine net program, Marsh Mania was a great success! 🎉 We collected numerous animals, including striped killifish, sheepshead minnows, mud crabs, oysters, mummichogs, fiddler crabs, and a massive number of grass shrimp. A pretty good winter haul! Salt marshes host a great variety of life and are an important site of biodiversity, acting as “nurseries of the sea”. In fact, more than 75 percent of commercially important species (i.e. blue crab, shrimp, redfish, oysters, etc.) rely on salt marshes for food, refuge, and nursery habitats in their early life stages. Nearly every coastal animal relies on salt marshes in some way! Come and see our next Marsh Mania on January 30th at 11am, as we uncover the secrets of the salt marsh. Make sure to register online and arrive at our Ranger Station at our Live Oak Campground. This program will be held twice a month in case you miss this next one, so keep an eye out for our February calendar 👀 #scstateparks #saltmarsh #conservation #nature #animals

All our animals are feeling the holiday spirit! We walked in and discovered they were all wearing Santa hats! 🎅 Merry Christmas from the ELC! 🎄🌊🏝️🎁 #animal #scstateparks #christmas #fish #funny

Join for some December fun at the ELC! Swipe to see some of our programs with online registration!

A huge turtley thank you to Debbie, one of our incredible volunteers and staff members at Edisto Beach State Park, for making this beautiful quilt! 🐢🧵 And thank YOU to everyone who bought a raffle ticket! Your support helps the sea turtle program continue the important work of protecting and monitoring these amazing animals. We sold tickets throughout the turtle season at the Camp Exchange and are thrilled by the amount it raised for the sea turtle program! 🐢✨ ➡️ to see Debbie drawing the winning ticket! 🎟️ #edistobeachstatepark #scstateparks