A group of young people in the Stewardship Youth Ranger Program at Arrowhead Provincial Park are working to help save some at-risk turtle species.
Their work is important. Six of the different turtle species in Muskoka are currently at risk. The students are collaborating with a turtle-release project, called Saving Turtles At Risk Today (START), which is based out of the Lake Simcoe-Muskoka region, in the hopes of changing that.
“We do many volunteering jobs from building animal enclosures and releasing hatchlings to dealing with beach erosion and doing trail maintenance. We do it all!” said team leader Olivia Baguley.
The objective of this program is to provide community-based work experience, personal development, skills and training for youth who want to expand their commitment to natural resource stewardship.
“A portion of the program outline involves a knowledge-based component, which is where I, as the team leader, chose to connect with the START turtle project. We chose to volunteer with them to get some education on turtles and to help with the high number of releases.” said Baguley.
The START project encourages the public to contact them through their hotline (705-955-4284) whenever turtles are sighted, females are found nesting and/or turtles are found injured or dead.
Throughout the summer a large number of nests and turtles were suspected of being in danger. Each season the START program can observe over 1800 nests and release up to 3500 hatchlings.
Last week, the Stewards of Arrowhead met up with members of the START project to release turtles into their habitats. START’s goal is to help with mapping road crossings and mortalities, captive hatch eggs, and collect lots of data for turtle conservation and restoration.
“We mainly released Snapping turtle hatchlings, as they are the most abundant and prevalent species within the Simcoe-Muskoka region,” said Baguley. “They are the largest freshwater turtle. Hatchlings are about the size of a Loonie and are smaller and darker than adults, with pronounced ridges along the length of their shell.”
“We were also fortunate enough to release a single nest of Blanding’s turtles, which are more rare within our wetlands,” Baguley continued. “It is a medium-sized turtle easily identified by its bright yellow throat and chin. The Blanding’s Turtle has a domed shell that resembles an army helmet. Its shell is black to brown with yellow flecks and streaks.”
“The Snapping turtle species is the most abundant species in the Lake Simcoe-Muskoka region but still rated as a special concern species,” said Baguley. “The Blanding’s turtle is rated as a threatened species but still do relatively well here in Muskoka because of our large spread of wetland.”
If you need to report an endangered turtle call the START hotline at 705 955 4284.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free newsletter here.
Proud of our youth involved in such an important initiative. Protection of endangered species (Blanding’s Turtle), encouraging turtle survival and respect for nature in general is a worthwhile important endeavour. The young people involved deserve congratulations.