Dearl Adams

As part of Project Ridley, Dearl Adams of Brownsville worked with his brother Thearl and wife Ethel to protect the rare Kemp’s ridley sea turtle through transporting, incubating, and monitoring eggs and hatchlings that were brought from Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico to South Padre Island, beginning in roughly 1963. They were soon joined by Ila Loetscher, who went on to establish Sea Turtle, Inc. in 1977.

Project Ridley’s approach was validated in 1974 when a Kemp’s ridley returned to nest at South Padre Island, the first in decades. In 1978, this milestone encouraged the National Parks Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Mexican sister agencies to carry the relocation effort forward at a massive, international scale, through the Kemp’s Ridley Restoration and Enhancement Program.