Turtles are among the most vulnerable species on the planet. Thankfully, in some parts of Ontario, they are seeing an increase in efforts by community groups to protect and conserve them. Keep on reading to learn more about some of the people and groups who are working to help our province’s turtles.
Lesley Rudy who is Ontario Nature’s Nature Network Organizer is also involved in turtle conservation apart from her day job. A neighbourhood association alerted her to the presence of a popular urban turtle nesting area in her home of Kingston Ontario. Most nests were being predated and the area was threatened by a proposed road construction project. Lesley became involved with this passionate group of volunteers by protecting nests and collecting nesting data while other advocates eventually succeeded in stopping the road. Her involvement led her to study turtle nesting for her master’s degree at Queen’s University.
Lesley relocating snapping turtle to safety © Lesley Rudy
Meanwhile, a new local turtle conservation group formed arising from concerns about high road mortality, called Turtles Kingston. Turtles Kingston helps injured turtles, runs public education workshops and advocates for road mortality mitigation. Lesley brought the monitoring project under their umbrella in 2022 after completing her MSc. Lesley feels fortunate to work with many wonderful volunteers and supportive community members on this endeavour.
Lesley and Turtles Kingston are not alone in caring about the plight of turtles. Many other conservation stories abound across the province. For example, when Peter Duncanson, who has a passion for studying and protecting Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians, was a child, he found an injured Blanding’s turtle while riding his bike down Finch Avenue in Toronto. Blanding’s turtles are notable wanderers and this one had likely set out from nearby Black Creek to find itself negotiating a hostile landscape of roads and buildings. There it met a fate that thousands of turtles suffer every year – injury and death by automobile.
Halton Hills Turtle Guardians © Don Scallen
As an adult, now living in Acton Ontario, Peter was moved, so along with three other turtle lovers – Bev Lynn, Melanie Foxs and Louisa Lamberink-van Wijk – they founded Halton Hills Turtle Guardians. Guided by the muse of his childhood Blanding’s turtle, Peter committed himself to the conservation of the turtles living in his community.
The work that this dedicated group did in 2023 was truly inspiring. They protected 51 turtle nests in Acton and Georgetown. Rescued (legal with permits only) 19 additional precariously situated nests, and several injured turtles on areas near roads.
Another great example is Heart Lake Turtle Troopers in Brampton which was founded in 2020 to reduce the tragic levels of turtle road mortality in that community and to protect turtle nests from predation. Among other conservation measures, the troopers protected over 100 nests and released 1,276 hatchling turtles in 2023.
Northern map turtle © Jessica Ferguson
Many other grassroots turtle conservation organizations are now established in the province including the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough, Think Turtle in Bancroft, The Land Between’s Turtle Guardians, and Turtle Protectors in Toronto. It is almost certain that in the absence of such efforts, turtle populations would continue to plummet in urban areas, even to the point of local extirpations. The ordinary folk engaged in these initiatives are conservation heroes.
Although Peter Duncanson, one of those heroes, was shaken by his childhood encounter with the injured Blanding’s turtle, he says, “That turtle changed the course of my life”. And it surely not only changed Peter’s life, but the lives of the hundreds of turtles that Peter and his group have saved.
Ontario’s turtles are in trouble, but they now have allies across the province fighting for their survival. Do you know of other turtle conservation groups in the province? Please tell us in the comments!
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By Lesley Rudy and Don Scallen
Don Scallen is a writer and naturalist in Halton Region, where he is witnessing ever greater traffic levels and its increasing toll on wildlife.
Lesley joined Ontario Nature in 2022 as our Nature Network Organizer and enjoys working with our many passionate Nature Network groups.
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