Volunteer extraordinaire Vanessa Oltmann named S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources Volunteer of the Year
by Jenny Peterson | Current Staff Writer
Countless baby sea turtles hatched on Folly Beach have made it successfully into the Atlantic Ocean thanks to Vanessa Oltmann, a Folly Beach resident and tireless turtle team volunteer who combs the beach before the sun rises every morning during nesting season to give the turtles the best chance of survival. She was recently nominated as volunteer of the year from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for her work with sea turtle conservation.
Oltmann dove headfirst into sea turtle conservation and environmental advocacy when she and her husband moved to Folly Beach nine years ago. Oltmann and her husband had been visiting Folly Beach for 18 years.
“I fell in love with Folly and the festivals and the people. It was just so cool and it’s where my first volunteering started,” Oltmann said. “I first started working with Surfer’s Healing and have been volunteering with them for probably nine years. I met somebody from the aquarium and that got me involved in litter removal.”
A lover and nature and sea turtles, Oltmann is a volunteer member of the Folly Beach Turtle Team, which is 55 members strong. Her duties include inventory of turtle nests, reporting any false crawls and digging up nests by hand to inventory the number of eggs or relocate eggs if the mother laid the nest below the high tide line. She also helps with stranded turtles.
“I’m in the company of very special people because when we get up in the mornings and we hit the beach (to look for nests), it can be 100 degrees outside and we’re still out there. If it rains, we’re out there in the rain. The only time we’re not on the beach is if it’s thundering and lightning, but I have sat in my car and waited for the storm to pass and gone back out,” Oltmann said.
Oltmann had a record year in sea turtle nesting relocation. She helped discover 13 nests.
“My duty is that once the mother lays the eggs and doesn’t come back to the nest, I’m to monitor the nest and I’m to watch it. It’s my passion,” she said. “I love it. It’s one with nature and I’m able to be a part of something that’s very magical.”
She said discovering nests isn’t as easy as following tracks due to false crawls and false nests.
“We’re taught how to probe the nest—I used to be a well operator in Georgia. So I already knew how to probe for water; this time, I’m probing for eggs. The egg chamber is actually almost two feet down and I usually dig anywhere from 18 inches to 2 feet,” Oltmann said. “I love sea life—I love wildlife and we’ve got to protect the earth. This is all we have.”
Oltmann’s activism extends beyond her work on the Turtle Team; Oltmann is the mind behind the Toby the Turtle cartoon character through the Folly Association of Business (FAB). Toby recognizes local businesses who clean up litter. Oltmann had the idea to get everyone involved in the effort to clean up liter—including kids and the next generation of residents.
“I wanted a cartoon character that would actually draw kids in to want to learn about litter; he’s swimming around, he wants you to take care of the water and get the litter out,” said Oltmann, who often dresses in costume. “I created Toby, and I made him real. He’s a superhero.”
She said Toby has gained so much popularity that kids were yelling his name and waving to him at the recent Folly Beach Christmas parade. He’s also a local mascot to bring awareness for the nationwide World Oceans Day.
Oltmann organizes beach sweeps that draw upwards of 100 people to help clean Folly Beach with more than 68,00 pieces of litter collected.
“I tell people what they can do to protect the turtles, like take your beach equipment off the beach because turtle babies can get stuck in them. And cover your holes. Awareness is one of the things that we can do,” Oltmann said.
The volunteer of the year nomination was a recognition of the 13 nests that she helped discover and Oltmann said she teared up when she got the letter informing her of the honor.
“I love it because it makes people want to volunteer, too. There is a domino effect and people see me do it, then they want to do it too,” she said. “I do it because I love it and because I have the passion. I’d go out there if I could and swim with the turtles. Who knows? Maybe I did in a previous life.”
