Volunteer Spotlight: Autumn Neilson

Editor’s Note: This article also appears in the STPS Fall 2024 Turtle Times Newsletter (see page 14).

When it comes to volunteering, Autumn’s can-do attitude and generous spirit shines through. “I wish I could do it all!” she says. Born and raised in Cocoa Beach, Autumn is an avid beachgoer and routinely jogs on the beach in the early morning. She loves seeing nesting sea turtles and hatchlings. One day in 2016, she encountered the STPS Nesting Survey team searching for stray hatchlings in the dunes and decided to help them. Afterwards, she thought, “That was really cool!” and began volunteering for STPS.

This year, Autumn is on both the STPS Stranding & Salvage and Nesting Surveys teams. In the past, she’s also volunteered for Night Walks and STERP. Keep in mind, she also has three kids (a 5-year-old and twins age 14), and is a licensed massage therapist working part-time at the Therapeutic Health Center. In addition, she volunteers for the Florida Native Plant Society and at Wild Florida Rescue answering their emergency hotline. At last year’s Turtle Krawl 5K, she volunteered for both STPS and Wild Florida Rescue (see photo below).

Being on the Stranding & Salvage team is a new adventure for Autumn. One of her most memorable rescues was an injured juvenile green spotted at Port Canaveral. The green had been reported a week prior but could not be found when rescuers arrived. When a second call came in, Autumn went to the port, but once again, the injured sea turtle was not in the reported location. Undaunted, she searched all over and finally found it and used a net to capture it from the water. That’s when she discovered that the young green was entangled in fishing line and had a fishing hook embedded in its flipper (see photo above). It was transported to Sea World Orlando for rehabilitation.

For Autumn, STPS is a family affair. She and her twins participate in beach cleanups, and she takes her 5-year-old to nest evaluations. At this year’s Turtle Krawl 5K, she helped with the event, while her husband ran in the race, and her youngest competed in the Kid’s Run.

Best of all, she’s developed many lasting friendships over the years with other STPS volunteers. She loves doing nest surveys with her friend Noelle and learning all about sea turtles from great teachers like Dori Hughes and Sherrie and Dave Williams.

Her early morning beach outings also give her the chance to practice her photography. Last year, Autumn submitted this beautiful photo of a leatherback hatchling at sunrise to the STPS 2023 Photo Contest. After all the “likes” on Facebook were tallied, it won a spot in our 2024 Calendar!