Turtle Times - Haliburton Highlands Land Trust

the
Turtle Times
a Turtle Road Mortality Mitigation Project Update
November 2015
Our Turtles are in Trouble!
In Haliburton County, 5 out of 6 turtle
species are considered “Species at Risk”.
Road mortality has become one of the
greatest threats to Ontario’s turtles as a
result of the fragmentation of our landscape
by an ever expanding network of roads.
The Land Trust owns, manages and
protects about 700 acres, representing 4
properties in Haliburton County. Almost
all of our properties provide suitable habitat
for turtles, and several turtles at risk have
been identified on our properties. We know
it’s not enough to have isolated islands
of protection. As turtles travel across
the landscape, we wanted to look at
ways of enhancing their survival
by protecting them from the
threat of roads.
In 2014, with multiyear funding from
the Ontario
Ministry of
Natural Resources
& Forestry Species at
Risk Stewardship Fund, the
Haliburton Highlands Land
Trust and its partners Glenside
Ecological Services Ltd., and
U-Links Centre for Community Based
Research began a project to investigate
turtle road mortality mitigation.
A Turtle Underpass?
The project’s biologist, Paul Heaven studied the various methods that have
been tried in other regions to protect wildlife from the impacts of roads.
He then proposed a ‘made in Haliburton’ solution to the problem, using a
design tailored to the County
of Haliburton and its turtle
community.
The Turtle Road Mortality
Mitigation Project seeks
to test this design, which
consists of a suitablysized culvert to act as an
underpass, combined
with a barrier wall
to prevent turtles
from getting
onto the
road.
I STOP FOR
TURTLES
We have some interesting preliminary
results to report!
Read on...
Above: The existing road culvert acts as an underpass,
with the barrier wall along either side blocking access
to the road.
The Study
YEAR ONE - 2014: The first year involved a large number
of volunteers, who monitored eight sites during the spring turtle
nesting season, when turtle activity is at its peak. The results of this
year’s work identified one “test” site, and two “control” sites.
Phase 2: In the fall of 2014, we installed the barrier wall adjacent to the
existing culvert at the test site.
YEAR TWO - 2015: In the second year of the study, we sent our intrepid
volunteers out into the field again during the turtle nesting season, to
record their observations of all turtle activity at the test site, and the two
control sites. (The monitoring of these two control sites is very important,
as this serves to validate the data collected at the test site.)
Citizen Science:
an incredible community effort!
We have been amazed and grateful
for the spectacular response from
our community to this project. 180
volunteers contributed an incredible
amount of their time:
• 2,800 hours of monitoring time
during May and June of 2014
• 450 hours for drift fence
installation, and
• 1,350 hours of monitoring during
May and June 2015
Volunteers ranged in age from eight
to eighty-six, and consisted of high
school students, college and university
students, interns, retirees, families
A volunteer Turtle Monitor on the job!
who monitored
together, yearround locals,
seasonal residents
and visitors.
The protocol for
this study required
monitoring our
selected locations
Monitoring Zone
when turtles are
most active; in
the morning and early evening, seven
hours a day, seven days a week for the
entire months of May and June.
Our student interns and volunteer
turtle monitors committed their
valuable time to working in the
field, monitoring and recording
turtle activity. They were out there
rain or shine, every day, even during
the height of black fly season! Some
volunteers never saw a single turtle.
But they kept coming out to help. The
information they collected was crucial
to our understanding of how turtles
responded to the barrier wall and
underpass.
This project really got the attention of people
around our community and beyond. We
received calls weekly from people who had
seen a turtle, helped one across a road, or just
had a story to tell. One local kindergarten
class did a unit study on turtles, and this
project in particular. Their project included a
scale model of the turtle underpass, which we
were especially thrilled with!
The results of a Kindergarten unit study
on the Turtle Road Mortality Project
Other organizations who are considering
mitigation for turtle road mortality in their
areas have contacted us to ask questions, and
some have come out to volunteer and learn
about our project first-hand.
Seeking Volunteers for Spring 2016
Have a little time to offer? We will be training new volunteers in April 2016 for the final May/June monitoring period. If you can
help, please contact us at (705) 457-3700 or
[email protected].
How does the turtle cross the road?
One of the big questions this study seeks to answer is:
“Will turtles actually use the culvert under the road as an
underpass?”
As the photo at the right shows, the answer to that question
is - “yes”! During the two-month period of observation this
spring, we had confirmed observations of 33 turtles that
successfully navigated through the culvert from one end to
the other, with many additional anecdotal observations.
Even better - turtles aren’t the only ones using the
underpass. We have also observed a number of other species
using it, including muskrats, beavers, water snakes, frogs,
and even a mallard with her ducklings!
This snapping turtle was observed both entering and
exiting the culvert underpass.
The(...so
Results
far!)
Year One Observations
before barrier wall installation
Does it work? See for yourself...
YEAR ONE: May-Jun 2014
Before the barrier wall was installed,
observers documented a large
number of turtles on the road, within
the boundaries of the 500 metre
monitoring zone. (between the two
yellow lines).
Legend:
Monitoring Area Boundaries:
BEFORE
Turtles on the Road:
(each colour indicates
a different species)
Barrier Wall (Year Two photo):
Year Two Observations
after barrier wall installation
YEAR TWO: May-Jun 2015
After the barrier was installed, we
sent observers back to the same site to
monitor during the spring of 2015.
The yellow lines of the monitoring
zone can be seen, as can the red
arrows that denote each end of the
barrier wall.
No turtles were observed on the road
between the barrier walls!
A number of turtles followed the
barrier wall to the end where they
were redirected back towards the
underpass or returned to the wetland.
A few turtles escaped and found their
way to the road beyond the wall.
AFTER
Project Partners:
Study Design & Implementation:
Student & Volunteer Coordination:
Project Management &
Volunteer Coordination:
U-Links Centre for Community-Based Research
www.glenside-eco.ca
www.ulinks.ca
www.haliburtonlandtrust.ca
Funding:
Assistance for this project was provided
by the Government of Ontario
Sponsors & Supporters:
For more information about the Turtle Road Mortality Mitigation project, see
www.haliburtonlandtrust.ca. If you would like to support the Land Trust with its
conservation efforts, please consider becoming a member or making a donation.