Turtle Trackers Wanted for 2025 Season
Submitted by Kelsey Bowles, Parks Canada
All eight species of turtles in Ontario are listed as species at risk and they need our help!
Are you interested in getting outside, meeting members of the community, and making a difference for wildlife? Want to volunteer for a world leading conservation organization? Parks Canada is looking for volunteers to join their Turtle Trackers Team at Bruce Peninsula National Park.
Who are the Turtle Trackers?
During the spring, female turtles are searching for suitable nesting sites to lay their eggs. The Turtle Trackers collect data and monitor “hotspots” within the park for nesting activity. When they see a nesting turtle or new nest, they install a protective cage over top of it. This protects the fragile turtle eggs from being eaten by animals like raccoons and skunks.
In late summer and early fall, baby turtles start to emerge from their nests. The Turtle Trackers monitor protected nests to release these hatchling turtles and ensure they make it to suitable habitat safely.
The data collected from the Turtle Trackers helps Parks Canada better understand nesting locations and turtle activity. Monitoring and protecting nests and baby turtles is crucial to protecting turtle populations.
Who can join?
Anyone! You don’t need any experience; all volunteers will undergo a training session either in person or virtually with Parks Canada staff. Volunteers can also shadow a park staff member for their first shift to ensure they feel confident before heading out on their own. Parks Canada also provides all the equipment necessary; volunteers just need access to their own vehicle.
Volunteers must commit to a minimum of one 3-hour shift per week from approximately mid-May to early July. You can volunteer once a week, or every day – it’s up to you! Later in the season, from mid-August to early September, you can also come back to help release the hatchlings back into their habitat. Who would say no to seeing baby turtles?
Beyond the data
Being a Turtle Tracker goes far beyond monitoring or even releasing the turtles.
Kate Walsh has been a volunteer Turtle Tracker since the program’s inception in 2018. She says that one of her favourite parts of being a Turtle Tracker is speaking to visitors in the park about the conservation work she’s taking part in.
“I love answering people’s questions, sharing my knowledge, and helping people from all over Canada and the world get to know more about our environment and turtles specifically,” says Walsh. “Their enthusiasm and passion is just so exciting for me. I involve them so that there are new generations of people who see the need to protect our wildlife. You never know what sparks you might be igniting in someone.”
And sparks can definitely ignite! Walsh’s son Alex also joined his mom as a volunteer for the first few years of the program. He is now in his second year studying wildlife biology at the University of Guelph. His volunteer hours as a Turtle Tracker and with other local organizations helped him win a President’s Scholarship from the university and he even spent the last summer studying lemurs in Madagascar.
Photo: Kate Walsh while waiting for a snapping turtle to finish laying her eggs in 2023.
Photo: Alex on a turtle tracking shift in 2021.
The program also has long term impacts.
“When you release a hatchling, they usually sit and look up at you for a moment before they disappear; it’s pretty magical,” says Walsh. “The ones that reach maturity may outlive me. That’s pretty cool.”
Sign up now!
To learn more, visit the “Get Involved” section of the Bruce Peninsula National Park website.
If you are interested in becoming a Turtle Tracker, send an email to r2r@pc.gc.ca by the end of April.
