Dec. 14--As Florida Power & Light began digging cooling canals at Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Homestead, crocodiles began swimming into the deep waters of the newly created refuge, generating their own electricity through rituals of courtship and mating.

Some three decades later, they've grown into a colony of about 400 teenage and adult crocodiles as part of what the National Wildlife Federation calls a "crocodile Eden."

Environmentalists and nuclear plants sometimes don't mix. But the National Wildlife Federation praises Turkey Point in its October/November magazine issue, crediting the heavily guarded nuclear plant for helping to save the once endangered reptiles.

Today, Turkey Point accounts for about a fifth of the entire nation's crocodile population, according to the Federation's article.

Its secret to a croc mating heaven: The 6,800-acre system of canals to cool the power plant -- which the crocodiles are only too happy to use.

After a nest discovery at Turkey Point in 1978, FPL realized the need to preserve this emerging habitat within their canal system that has access to Biscayne Bay.

Three years earlier, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had classified the species as endangered, citing development pressure and lack of protection of them and their habitats.

So FPL established a monitoring program and began studying the movements, nesting habits, genetic makeup and growth of this skittish, saltwater species.

For nearly the past two decades wildlife biologist Joe Wasilewski has led FPL's efforts. He's seen crocs reclaim their territory along Florida shores, their only home in the United States.

"This is a good story for a change" as they were down-listed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2007 to threatened from endangered, said Wasilewski in an interview at his laboratory.

"That means the species has rebounded enough that there's a chance for future generations to see them."

Cindy Shulz, endangered species supervisor for the USFWS Vero Beach office, said that when they were endangered in 1975 there were only an estimated 10 to 20 reproducing females, while now there are an estimated 2,000 crocs in Florida.

Their population has grown from about 19 in 1985 to 400 at Turkey Point, which is now one of three primary nesting areas in South Florida, said Shulz.

The University of Florida monitors the remaining crocs, largely at Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park.

At Turkey Point, FPL has a proposed project to add additional nuclear reactors there.

But Wasilewski said his reptilian friends will remain protected.