Anna Maria Island is a special place. Located on Florida's west coast, it's largely escaped the blight of over-development and high rise condominiums that line most of the state's beaches. It's a place where the locals work hard at balancing land use with wildlife protection. The island is home to an active population of nesting sea turtles and shorebirds, who are carefully monitored by a group of dedicated volunteers, known as AMI Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring. On a hot, still, brilliant morning in June 2010,  as oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster gushed  unchecked into the Gulf, Diane Bock met with Suzi Fox, executive director of the group, to count nesting lease terns.

 Anna Maria Island is a special place. Located on Florida's west coast, it's largely escaped the blight of over-development and high rise condominiums that line most of the state's beaches. It's a place where the locals work hard at balancing land use with wildlife protection. The island is home to an active population of nesting sea turtles and shorebirds, who are carefully monitored by a group of dedicated volunteers, known as AMI Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring. On a hot, still, brilliant morning in June 2010,  as oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster gushed  unchecked into the Gulf, Diane Bock met with Suzi Fox, executive director of the group, to count nesting lease terns.