Opening Launches Eco-Tourism Collaborative
(26 July 2025 – Norfolk County, Ontario)
The UNESCO-designated Long Point Biosphere Region and the Long Point Eco-Adventures resort and retreat have launched a collaboration that the two organizations hope will anchor a broader, integrated effort to promote sustainable tourism and conservation in Norfolk County. The agreement focuses initially on the development of facilities and a multi-faceted program to protect native turtle species and to inform the public of their ecological importance to the Biosphere region.
The Long Point Turtle Hatchery and Exhibition Centre which opened today is located at the Long Point Eco-Adventures site in St. Williams and is part of a program of experience and education. The centre also benefits from substantial support from a TD Friends of the Environment Foundation grant as well as funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
“We are delighted to work with such an innovative and dedicated organization as Long Point Eco-Adventures,” said Biosphere Chair Tom Via. “Its commitment to conservation and sustainable tourism is inspiring and a cornerstone of visitor experience in our area.”
Via added that the Biosphere is looking to expand the collaborative by building upon other partnerships such as existing relationships with organizations such as Birds Canada and the Long Point Land Trust as well as the work of the companies, government agencies, and groups featured in the Biosphere’s Amazing Places initiative.
Long Point Turtle Hatchery, Wildlife Road Watch, and Public Turtle Tours
There are eight freshwater turtle species in Canada and all of them are in decline. The Long Point Biosphere Turtle Hatchery & Exhibit at Eco Adventures in Saint Williams, Ontario was established to assist in reversing this trend.
The hatchery project is made possible by dedicated Wildlife Road Watch (WRW) volunteers, who patrol roads where freshwater turtles cross to access dry upland nesting habitat. This happens during the annual nesting migration each year in June.
Long Point Biosphere WRW volunteers help adult turtles cross roads and find ideal nesting sites. The volunteers stop traffic, carry turtles across roads, and guard them while they are nesting. Once a turtle has finished nesting, volunteers ensure the adult females travel safely back to the wetland. Later, the team excavates at risk eggs for safe incubation at the Long Point hatchery.
“Roadside work is dangerous for turtles and people,” says Kari Gunson, Biosphere road ecologist. “ But thanks to new safety vests provided by Mitchell Plastics and designed by volunteer Patti Moore, the turtle team was safely outfitted in style.”
This year (2025), hundreds of mature adult females were protected from vehicles on roads and a total of 1,167 eggs, including 194 from threatened Blanding’s Turtles, are now incubating at the hatchery.
The first hatchling is expected as early as today, July 26, 2025. Hatching will continue to September.
For the first seven days of their lives, each hatchling will serve as an ambassador for their species, while the turtle volunteers inform guests to Long Point Eco-Adventures about the threats to turtles and how everyone can all help. Check out the special turtle tours at Long Point Eco-Adventures
After their seven days of fame are up, the hatchlings will be released directly into the marshes their mothers came from. After the last releases in September, volunteers will hit the roads again to look for both turtles and snakes, such as the endangered Foxsnake, crossing roads to get to overwintering habitat in Norfolk County. Along the way additional wild turtle hatchlings will also be found and carried to the nearest wetland increasing the overall odds for the continued presence of turtles in “Canada’s Amazon” – the Long Point Biosphere.
See Tiny Win for Turtles story, and please consider contributing to the Long Point Biosphere Region Turtle Hatchery!
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 and to identify turtle nests for excavation along several key nesting hotspots.
If you are interested, please consider subscribing at wildlifeonroads.com or reach out to Lauren at lnightingale@eco-kare.com for more information. For media coverage click here (TV) and here (newspaper).
For more on what’s happening in the Long Point Biosphere check out our newsletter here.