A small seaplane flies circles around a skinny strip of land more than 20 miles off the Louisiana coast as two of its passengers scan the sand below for promising tracks.

Keri Lejeune and Todd Baker shout out when they spot them. Lejeune, the state's herpetologist, and Baker, a project manager with the state's coastal authority, are on the hunt for “crawls,” evidence that endangered and vulnerable turtle species are nesting on the disappearing Chandeleur Islands.

Every week during the turtle’s summer nesting season, state officials involved in the project to restore the iconic barrier islands fly out on the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' seaplane for a survey of the area. The scientists document any evidence of new crawls and, if weather permits, wade out onto the islands for a

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