Conservation of any animal has a lot of questions related to how, where, when, and even why. For turtles, we know some of the things we need to do include: protect their habitat, decrease the adult mortality, and increase hatchling recruitment, but which of these actions will make the biggest impact?

Roads pose a major threat to turtles, they fragment turtle habitat and are a main cause of turtle mortality and injury. Typically moving across a road, although dangerous, is not too difficult. However, in more urban areas where roads frequently have curbs, these can result in another barrier to turtle movement.

Where a mother turtle decides to lay her nest is an important factor impacting the success and survival of her hatchlings. We know that our local Ontario turtles prefer sandy substrate with minimal vegetation and direct sunlight, thus, when providing alternative nesting mounds we must try to recreate this nesting habitat.

Have you noticed the fencing along Princess St / Hwy 2 at the Westbrook Wetlands and wondered how that helps save our local turtle population? There is more to it than a fence…click here to find out!