Curve Lake gets new turtle signs

Elders provide translation to Michi Saagig to help get drivers to give turtles a brake

CURVE LAKE — Nine Anishnabemowin and English language turtle crossing signs have been established throughout the Curve Lake First Nation community.

The signs were installed as part of a project funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada, in partnership with the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority and the Curve Lake band council.

Elders from the first nation worked together to translate the signs into Michi Saagig; the local dialect of Anishnabemowin. Graphics for the sign were provided by the Toronto Zoo Turtle Island Conservation

Program.

Meredith Carter, manager of Otonabee Conservation’s watershed management program, said the Toronto Zoo’s program has also worked with other First Nation communities.

“They had some signage, but it wasn’t in the local dialect. The Curve Lake elders, they have a group that does translations, and so they worked to translate that and then the signs were produced,” Carter said.

The project started when Lorenzo Whetung, a Curve Lake community member, approached the conservation authority a few years ago, concerned about the road mortality of turtles, Carter said.

“He asked if there was anything that we could do to reduce that, so we started working together to figure out what the best thing would be and the project grew from there, so it was a really neat partnership,” she said.

There are eight species of turtles in Ontario, six of which can be found locally, Carter said.

To figure out where the road mortality hot spots were in the reservation, Carter said they asked community members for their input, while also taking into account species data from provincial data bases.

Once they knew where the majority of the turtle vehicle collisions were happening, they started to think about how to mitigate it, she said.

“Putting up signage is such a great way to raise awareness and also to get motorists not only to slow down, but to remind them about turtles,” Carter said.

A total of 682 turtles have been brought to the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre this year, 98 of them locally and at least two from Curve Lake, she said.

“The turtle conservation folks said that it’s really important that if you do see a dead turtle, you can stop and pick them up as well and take them to the centre because they may have eggs in them. The eggs can be incubated and hatched at the centre and then released to the wetland where the mother was found,” Carter said.

When rescuing a turtle, individuals should double-check they are out of harm’s way of other vehicles and should wash their hands after touching a turtle as they can carry salmonella, she said.

“Putting up signage is such a great way to raise awareness.”

MEREDITH CARTER OTONABEE REGION CONSERVATION AUTHORITY