CONTACT: toc@opirgmcmaster.org

Protection and conservation of turtles and wetlands through awareness and improvement of conservation efforts is what defines our working group.

Habitat fragmentation, climate change, pollution, and hunting are all reasons for the stark decline in turtle populations. Our group believes that a public and scientific understanding of these causes would help protect the declining turtle populations.

The wetlands are critical to biodiversity and human well-being. Our goal is to show the public that turtles are an important part of this ecosystem. Preserving and increasing turtle populations will help the wetlands and preserve a critical species.

We want to do this through connecting labs and groups by creating a conference to promote collaboration and information propagation. We have also created a radio show to build an appreciation for the importance of turtle protection. Designing petitions for reducing speed limits on Cootes and reducing the number turtles a person is allowed to hunt is another way to help.

Lastly, we have a proposal to work with Reyna Matties on having wildlife cameras monitor turtles. Trained volunteers would sift through the pictures helping to extract relevant data to be analyzed. This would give a cursory glance at how effective our conservation efforts are.