Dick Bourgeois-Doyle

The Long Point Biosphere Region is celebrating the “amazing, heart-warming success” of its  2024 Turtle Hatchery Pilot Project and is seeking support to establish a permanent facility and program in Norfolk County.  This could include public education and outreach activities as well as turtle incubators and special care facilities.

The hatchery, the first of its kind in this area, resulted in the release of 1,112 baby turtles into local waters last summer.  All of them came from eggs collected in Norfolk County by volunteers who worked through the heat, rain, and bugs to save turtles crossing roads, protect nests, and gather those eggs from vulnerable locations.

Excavated Midland Painted, Snapping, and Northern Map turtle eggs were transported to the pilot-project hatchery at the Long Point Eco-Adventures (LPEA) Welcome Centre to incubate.  Close to 900 turtle babies resulted.  This constituted an exceptional 95 percent survival rate for the local hatchery.

Release included over 100 Threatened Blandings Turtles

The Turtle Lab at the London Watershed Conservation Centre supported the project by taking all eggs from Blanding’s Turtles, a threatened species.  An additional 127 hatchlings from these eggs formed an important part of the total Long Point release.

As many Norfolk County residents know, freshwater turtles risk their lives each spring to cross roads and lay their eggs, which, in turn, often fall to predators even before their hatchlings appear and undertake the treacherous race to the shoreline.  This loss has enormous consequences for the region as turtles are an ecological keystone species and can take up to twenty years to lay their first eggs.

The Long Point Biosphere volunteers and staff help turtles navigate roadkill hotspots and install nest protectors as well as excavating eggs.  In the past, these rescued turtle eggs were taken to facilities, like those in London, outside the region.  But in 2024, thanks to the support of LPEA, Long Point turtle eggs were incubated and hatched right here in Norfolk County.

“Amazing and Heart-warming”

Long Point Biosphere President Janet Dassinger is calling the successful pilot both “amazing and heartwarming” because it was achieved through exceptional dedication and care.  Each turtle egg has to be monitored constantly for hydration, temperature, size, and weight.

The Biosphere’s Lauren Nightengale led the measuring and checking work as well as the spring excavations and eventual release into marshlands.  The release of each hatchling has to be within a kilometre of its original nest and its precise environmental circumstance.  In this work, Lauren was supported by  funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) (trough the Long Point and Walsingham Priority Place’s Road Ecology Working Group), Biosphere ecologist Kari Gunson’s company Eco-Kare International, and Eco Canada.

“We now have an urgent need for materials and funds to build on the success,” says Dassinger. “We hope to establish the hatchery as a permanent facility serving the Long Point Biosphere Region.”

She adds that the Biosphere is working with partners like LPEA to establish a multi-faceted exhibit to serve local students, visitors, and area residents interested in wildlife, ecology, and the quality of life in our region.

Help Long Point Turtles and Help us achieve the Hatchery Dream

Please consider contributing to the establishment of a Long Point Biosphere Turtle Hatchery!  Click Here to Donate

If you are not able to contribute financially but wish to help another way, please consider joining Wildlife Road Watch, our volunteer program.  You will be trained to safely help turtles cross roads, to identify turtle nests for excavation at nesting hotspots, and participate in our release program.

If you are interested, please consider subscribing at wildlifeonroads.com  or reach out to Lauren at lnightingale@eco-kare.com for more information.

For more on what’s happening in the Long Point Biosphere check out our newsletter here.