Wildlife biologists are once again looking for the public’s help to protect an endangered turtle population at Burnaby Lake Park.
Every year between May and July, female western painted turtles at the park climb out of the water to lay their eggs on land.
The Coastal Painted Turtle Project, an initiative dedicated to protecting the at-risk species, wants to make sure they get the support they need for nesting success.
Team members catalogue and collect information about every turtle they encounter, according to project manager Aimee Mitchell, who was out at the fenced nesting beach near Cariboo Dam last week.
She said a monitor with the team will be out at the site every evening until mid-July, monitoring the nesting moms, who tend to lay their eggs after a day of basking in the sun.
Last year, the beach attracted a little too much attention from the public, according to Mitchell, and she would like to see parks officials put up some temporary metal fencing to keep looky-loos at a distance.
“It was crazy the number of people here,” Mitchell said of the crowds last year. “They just scare (the turtles) off and they don’t lay eggs; they don’t nest here, and then they may go somewhere else that’s high risk and the eggs might not hatch or get crushed or get dug up by predators.”
Besides leaving the beach in peace, Mitchell said members of the public can help the project by reporting any turtle sightings in the park – without touching or picking up any of the shelled reptiles.
“A lot of people have GPS apps on their phone; they could even send us a pin – or just a description of where it is,” she said.
If it looks like the turtle in question is scratching around and actually preparing to lay some eggs, however, Mitchell urges park goers to mark the nest in some way, so the turtle project can find it.
“If we don’t know exactly that spot, we won’t find it later because they’re so good at camouflaging the nest afterwards,” she said.
When the turtle team locates nests outside of the fenced beach, it may work to protect the nest or move it to the beach, according to Mitchell.
It may also bring the eggs to the Vancouver Zoo, where the Coastal Painted Turtle Project partners with the Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and Wildlife Preservation Canada to “headstart” some turtles to be released back into Burnaby Lake.
To report a turtle sighting, message the project’s Painted Turtle Project Facebook page or email [email protected].
For more information, visit www.coastalpartners.ca/paintedturtleproject or follow the @coastalpartners Instagram account.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
Email [email protected]
