Gainesville is the epicenter of sea turtle conservation, according to David Godfrey. That is the legacy of the late famed ecologist and former University of Florida zoology professor Archie Carr. The headquarters of the Sea Turtle Conservancy founded by Carr and a group of financial supporters in 1959 — originally under the name Caribbean Conservation Corporation — is here and UF is home to the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Protection, training young biologists to further the work he started. “Gainesville is a really important place internationally for sea turtles despite the fact that we’re smack dab in the middle of the state,” said Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
