Thanks to the generous contributions of community members and local businesses, endangered western painted turtles now have a beautiful new place to nest at Trout Lake.
For years, turtles have struggled to find suitable nesting habitat at the lake. Many females attempted to nest on the road shoulder and parking lots, and some were killed crossing the highway. To alleviate this problem, the Sunshine Coast Wildlife Project led efforts to create new nesting habitat away from the road.
"This project has been an incredible success thanks to amazing community contributions!" enthused project leader Michelle Evelyn.
"Swanson's Ready-Mix donated and delivered all the nesting materials for free. Airspan Helicopters provided a large in-kind contribution to help move bags of sand to the site without damaging any habitat. And more than 30 people came out on a gorgeous sunny day to share their sweat and muscle to help shovel 10 tons of sand into place," Evelyn said.
"June is turtle nesting season, so we will be super excited to watch for mama turtles laying their eggs on the new beach this year," she added.
To view photos and learn more about turtles and the Wildlife Project, see www.coastwildlife.ca.
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