JUNO BEACH - The 2021 American crocodile nesting season at Florida Power & Light Company's Turkey Point Clean Energy Center has resulted in a record-setting 565 hatchlings, establishing a historic success in FPL's management of the local crocodile population.
The 565 hatchlings mark the highest number ever caught, processed, tagged and released at Turkey Point, which was highlighted in a recently filed report with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
'This milestone for Turkey Point's American crocodile program is a testament to FPL's environmental stewardship here in Miami-Dade County and in our service area,' said Kate MacGregor, FPL vice president of environmental services. 'The tireless work demonstrated at Turkey Point has resulted in a significant increase of the once-endangered American crocodile population.'
In 2021, efforts were made to encourage female crocodiles to return to their nesting sites by preparing historical nesting locations, and continuing to improve the water quality of the power plant's cooling canal system. These factors contributed greatly to the nesting and hatching success, yielding in 27 successful nests - the second-highest year on record behind 28 successful nests in 2008. This strategy will again be implemented for the 2022 nesting season.
The cooling canal system offers an optimum nesting, foraging, breeding and basking habitat for the American crocodile. The canal system provides elevated and maintained berms that protect the nests from flooding, while offering appropriate nesting substrate, security from human disturbance, isolation from nest and hatchling predation, and access to favorable water conditions.
For more than 40 years, Turkey Point's American crocodile management program has benefited the reptiles through monitoring nests, relocating hatchlings, and creating an appropriate habitat, among other activities. These efforts have resulted in an increase in the crocodile population. With the help of FPL's conservation efforts, the American crocodile was downlisted from an endangered species to a threatened species in 2007.
The crocodile habitat at Turkey Point is located on the 11,000 acres that comprise the cooling canal system and surrounding property.
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest vertically integrated rate-regulated electric utility in the U.S. as measured by retail electricity produced and sold. The company serves more than 5.7 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable electricity. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S and in 2021 won the ReliabilityOne National Reliability Award for the sixth time in the last seven years. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to J.D. Power's 2021 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM and 2021 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM. The company was also recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2022 list of 'World's Most Admired Companies' and recognized on Fortune's 2021 list of companies that 'Change the World.' NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage.
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