Photo: Creston Valley Wildsight

Creston Valley Wildsight will host a Turtle Fence Work Bee aimed at restoring Western Painted Turtle habitats on Saturday, April 27 at 9:30 a.m. at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area.

The yearly decline of the western painted turtle population could be an indicator of the state of an ecosystem's water quality.

So what makes them so important? Western painted turtles help control insect populations and help maintain the ecosystem's balance. They are also a sign of good water quality, while the degradation may signal that a particular area may have become more vulnerable to water pollution.

Creston Valley Wildsight biologists explained that because the turtles spend the majority of their lives in marches, moving streams and wetlands, they heavily rely on the nutrients that fresh water ecosystems provide.They added that these turtles are also very sensitive to pollution. This makes their presence or lack there of a good indicator of a ecosystems water quality.

"If there not a lot of turtles in there (a pond) it can be a bad sign," said Rebecca Gidney with the Creston Valley Wildsight.

Creston Valley Wildsight will be conducting work to address some of these matters at a upcoming Turtle Fence Work Bee, slated for Saturday, April 27 at 9:30 a.m. at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area.

To help keep the Western Painted Turtles safe from traffic along West Creston Road ,volunteers will be repairing and maintaining protective fencing as they search for nesting sites.

"These turtles typically lay their eggs within 150 metres of a pond, favouring dry, sandy soils. As part of the effort, we’ll also be restoring a turtle nesting pad," said Gidney.

According to Parks Canada, there are estimated to be fewer than 250 adults living on the Pacific Coast. The significant loss of wetland habitats is another contributing factor that has impacted their populations.

The western painted turtle isn’t just cute and colourful, it's also important to many wetland habitats across the province. Each year, more and more of their habitats are fragmented by road developments and human activities.

This species of turtle has been endangered since 2006 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and was reclassified threatened in 2021 under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). Despite there being many collaborative projects built around protecting and restoring these turtles' habitats and ecosystems, year after year they remain on the red-listed species list.

Despite being relatively slow at reproducing, typically reproducing far less often than other painted turtles in the region, they may often lay many eggs when they do. This has helped their populations cling on throughout the years.

With a long list of predators, these turtles also have to be on the lookout for raccoons, skunks, and coyotes in addition to diseases and parasites. Their eggs also help feed these predators. If the species were to be wiped out, its extinction could be one more step towards the overall decline of biodiversity within the province's wetlands. This could also result in weakening the resilience of an ecosystem's ability to respond to stressors and changes.

This is just a big deal for the turtles but also for humans, as their extinction would serve as a warning that the overall water quality of a certain region has decreased.

If the species were to be wiped out, its extinction could be one more step towards the overall decline of biodiversity within the province's wetlands. This could also result in weakening the resilience of an ecosystem's ability to respond to stressors and changes.