About Turtles Kingston

Turtles Kingston is a not-for-profit organization (1721355-7) that aims to protect turtles within Kingston and the area by supporting and encouraging the community to take action!

Mission

Our mission at Turtles Kingston is to protect turtles within Kingston and the surrounding area by effecting change in human and societal activities and behaviours.

Vision

Our vision at Turtles Kingston is to reach a day when all 8 Ontario turtle species are no longer at risk.

Values

Turtles Kingston believes in the protection of turtles through advocacy, education, collaboration, volunteering, and individual efforts.

Our Strategy

Turtles Kingston aims to protect Ontario turtles through 5 different avenues or modules of conservation. Live outside the Kingston area? Make positive changes in your own region by adopting any one of our modules.

Education and Awareness

Engage and motivate the community to take action through awareness and sensitization to the peril of turtles on the road. Specifically, by providing key information that community members can use to take action.

Community involvement is critical to the success of turtle protection efforts.

Collaboration and Partnership

Turtles Kingston aims to work with others, such as the Public Works Department of the City of Kingston, to make organizational changes to processes and procedures that will protect turtles.

Nothing significant can be accomplished alone.

Advocacy

By speaking on behalf of turtles, to get community members to consider the welfare of turtles and wetland habitats in all aspects of their lives.

Advocacy is important to minimize human impacts on turtle populations.

Immediate Action

While working towards the long-term survival of turtles, we are also focused on more immediate actions that can help to increase turtle populations and save turtles from harm. This includes our turtle trauma response program,nest protection program, and nest rescue program.

There is always something that can be done now, while working for change.

Mitigation

Work to protect turtles through the installation of exclusion / turtle fencing, alternative nesting sites, and eco passages along roadways where turtle mortality is high.

Mitigation is key for the protection of existing turtle populations.

Board of Directors

Simon Chapelle

Simon has a degree in biology and a longstanding passion for protecting turtle habitats. He currently serves on the Ontario Regional Board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, contributing to strategic conservation initiatives across the province. Simon’s governance experience also includes public service where he advocated for turtles in his position on Kingston City Council.
Zachary Wells

Zach Wells is an ecologist who has spent more than a decade working to protect aquatic ecosystems and the species that rely on them. Much of his career has focused on keeping fish and wildlife safe during major construction projects and navigating environmental permitting so development and conservation can move forward together.
Adrian Jacklin

Adrian is a dedicated conservationist who has enjoyed being Turtles Kingston’s Trauma Program Coordinator since 2021. The following year she eagerly took on the additional role of Assistant Director. Now, she is excited to continue in those two roles, as well as being a member of the Board of Directors.
Tara Bauer

Tara has been the director of Turtles Kingston since September 2021. She is a life-long turtle lover and trained environmental scientist specializing in hydrogeology.

Turtles Kingston Team Members

Tara Bauer

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Tara has a background in hydrogeology and has worked in various careers from research to consulting and conservation to education. Tara was born and raised in Kingston, only leaving for a brief 12 -years before returning in 2020 and quickly jumping into the role of Executive Director at Turtles Kingston in 2021.
Adrian Jacklin

VP AND TRAUMA PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Adrian is a wife, fledgling author, and teacher. A "professional" student, she has spent the last decade learning about animals from a Bachelor in Zoology to a certificate as a Veterinary Assistant, a Master’s in Anthrozoology, and most recently a Bachelor of Education. Adrian has a deep appreciation for all animals and has been a part of the Turtles Kingston team since 2021.
Lesley Rudy

SCIENCE COORDINATOR
Lesley has had a lifelong interest in nature and is passionate about its conservation. She is a biologist with a MSc specific to the turtles of Kingston’s Inner Harbour, joining the Turtles Kingston team in 2022. She shares her nature expertise in her job with Ontario Nature and by volunteering with other nature and environmental organizations in Kingston and surrounding areas.
Emily Wright

ADVOCACY COORDINATOR
Emily has supported turtle conservation with volunteer positions at the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough and at Grundy Lake Provincial Park where she led the park’s turtle monitoring and protection program. Now in Kingston, Emily is a Substitute Teacher who joined the Turtles Kingston team in 2025.
Rebecca Brown

INFORMATION COORDINATOR
Rebecca (Becca) is in fourth year of her undergraduate degree in Biology at Queen’s University. She loves learning about nature and wildlife and is especially interested in environmental conservation and sustainability. Alongside Turtles Kingston, which she joined in 2025, she is part of the Society for Conservation Biology: Kingston Chapter through Queen’s.