Jack Rudloe

Activism

 

Jack and the late Anne Rudlo spent over 50 years fighting to preserve North Florida wetlands and promoting the importance of estuarine ecosystems.  They activist couple led the push for legislative protections where none existed. 

 

Working with his late wife, Anne Rudloe, Ph.D., Jack Rudloe has been credited with directly saving 35,000 acres of wetlands in the Florida Panhandle through government lobbying, appearances at public meetings, television and radio appearances, and books and articles about marine wetlands. 

 

Collectively, their research is cited in nearly 100 scholarly publications related to wetlands, marine habitat and species.  

 

In 2014, Rudloe was honored with the National Wetlands Award for education and outreach by the Environmental Law Institue in Washington, D.C.

 

Jack Rudloe is also noted as a strong proponent and advocate of turtle exclusion devices.  His work is widely cited in efforts to introduce and later to enforce their use.  His interest in general sea turtle welfare were the subject of two of his books,  Time of the Turtle and Search for the Great Turtle Mother. 

 

Whenever a sea turtle rehabilitated at GSML is released back to the wild he is well known for arriving in sea blue suit which he wears into the water for the release.

 

During the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Rudloe began Operation Noah's Ark to protect ocean invertebrates from contamination.   He published numerous popular articles on environmental topics including several in Sports Illustrated, National Geographic and Audubon. 

 

Rudloe opposed Florida's commercial net fishing ban because of the adverse impact on small town fisherman, placing him at odds with many large environmental groups. He has been raising awareness of the issue of plastic and waste dumping into the ocean since at least 1992.

 

Today, Jack Rudloe continues to battle moneyed interests threatening to repeal established laws protecting wetlands.