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Thick vegetation running parallel to the South Muskoka River makes the riverbed and road shoulder along Fraserburg Road an idyllic place for turtles to lay their precious eggs. Tragically, this perfect turtle nursery is currently under threat. 

There is a proposal underway to pave 1,000 feet of riverbank and road shoulder in this critical habitat. This construction project is unnecessary and will destroy the nesting sites of Painted, Snapping and endangered Blanding’s Turtles. We are working together to stop this needless destruction, but we need your help!

Bob Dyment, a Muskoka cottager since 1958, has been identifying turtle nesting sites in this area for more than a decade. In 2022 alone, he identified a dozen turtle nesting sites that would be destroyed by the proposed construction, resulting in critical damage to the long-term health of the species. Because turtles return to the same nesting site each year, when a nest is destroyed it not only ruins that year’s clutch of eggs, but has serious implications for future eggs laid by the mother turtle. 

Snapping turtle eggs laid in the Kowpakwakog River after the female tried unsuccessfully several times to nest in her regular site following a similar construction project nearby.

We provided years worth of data, collected by Mr. Dyment, on the turtle nests to the province to demonstrate the importance of this location. But data alone won’t win our fight. Time is of the essence and we need to act now to prevent this irreversible damage and save the turtles. Please donate today! 

Check out Save Muskoka Turtles to learn more about the turtles and the area.

Nesting sites mapped onto the project area. All of these sites will be destroyed by the proposed plan.

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