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Road Patrols and Emergency Response

Since 2007 Turtle Guardians has been patrolling roads, to collect valuable data, but also to respond to urgent needs, from roadside nesting turtles, crossings and injured turtles. We work with trained volunteers to support this rapid response, and we also direct the public through our TG Hotline Text and Call Centre.

Now, thanks to new technologies, we can dispatch and respond to texts and calls across North America in due time.

Benefits and Outcomes

Road patrols have contributed to our long term research on population and road ecology; where we can assess changes in turtle populations based on road use and landscape alterations, and we can identify hotspots; areas in need of mitigation and infrastructure such as signs and turtle tunnels.

These patrols also help us understand where nest excavation and incubation would benefit populations.

Coming soon to help turtles near you...

"Crossing Guards" and "the Turtle Way"

Led by Kate Dickson, this community approach to support turtle recovery is a cooperative solution.

Direct mitigation and threat reduction through volunteer and staff onsite presence cannot be undervalued. We work with community volunteers who patrol roads. Also, in areas of high mortality that are not feasible for ecopassage installations and near urban areas, the charity is working with communities to engage volunteer patrols called "Crossing Guards" and community level efforts with fun branding and green painted symbols across road areas called "the Turtle Way". We use "softer" BACI studies to assess the value of these efforts.