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About A Turtle For Every Log
Our Organization
We are an organization that exists purely to help native turtle species in NC. We are a strictly not for profit group that will rely on our own contributions, charitable contributions, sponsorships, partnerships and volunteers in order to operate. Our main mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and breed our local turtle populations and improve their habitats until there is a turtle for every log.
Keep reading to find out why turtles need our help and how we can help them!
Habitat Destruction
Human expansion, development, logging, etc. has destroyed and fragmented the vast majority of turtle friendly land and waterways. Displaced turtles then encounter predators, roads and cars when they go about their daily lives or searching for new places to live and breed. Turtle mortality on roads is an obvious issue that we’ve all seen first hand every warm season.
Predation
Raccoons are the number one predator of turtles, both aquatic and terrestrial. Due to urbanization, raccoon populations are more than thriving as they’ve become accustomed to a symbiotic relationship with humans and their garbage. Studies have now found that raccoon populations cluster around human activity and the farther you get from the urban area, the smaller the raccoon populations become.
Global Warming
Aside from the damage that global warming does to habitats that rely on consistent temperatures and rainfall to maintain themselves, the change in climate has another detrimental effect on turtle populations.
The sex of turtle hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the dirt they are incubated in. As temperatures on the whole rise, that leads to hatches of all females. Populations cannot maintain without close to equal sex ratios.
Our Solutions
Habitat Rehabilitation
We are starting small by removing and blocking out harmful and invasive species from protected ponds and terrestrial areas and planting the appropriatenative plants to control water quality and provide food/cover for turtles. Then, we are going big. Our biggest habitat project is the rehabilitation of Shearon Harris reservoir. It used to be one of the best places for bass fishing in the US and the best inland duck hunting in NC before 4000 grass carp were released into it in 2018 and 2019 to control the serious problem of invasive exotic hydrilla. Unfortunately, they not only eliminated the hydrilla but the extensive areas of native wetlands plants as well. This in turn has rendered the lake less hospitable to bass, ducks and turtles alike. We aim to begin fencing off areas and planting them with greenery that can begin to improve habitats and water quality. As we widen our protected areas, we will simultaneously begin removing the grass carp. Our plan is to expand those protected areas into a unified network of wetlands and return the lake to its former glory as a wildlife supporting haven.
Turtle Breeding
The turtles we rescue and rehabilitate are placed in protected breeding ponds and land areas that we monitor. We collect their eggs and incubate them at the proper temperatures to produce more males in order to help balance out the effects of global warming. These hatchlings are kept in tanks for the first year or two of their lives because baby turtles have an 80-90% mortality rate in those early years. Upon becoming juveniles, they will be released into additional protected habitats to create ever greater turtle populations.
Education
We want the general population to become more aware of and understand the hurdles that turtle populations are facing today as a result of human activity.
We are hoping that we can inspire other people to take action just like us, wether it is through our organization or through us assisting them in building their own.
We also would like to offer services to our community such as humane turtle removal and educational presentations and resources.
Why We Care and You Should Too
Turtles have been around for millions and millions of years. The oldest turtle fossils date to around 220 million years ago and even before that were the creatures that evolved into what we consider to be turtles today. They have survived this long and now due to human activity their futures are in danger. It is our responsibility to assist them in any way that we can.
When we restore, improve and expand turtle friendly wetlands and forestlands it also benefits a huge array of other native biota, including humans, and positively affects climate change in the area. Our work at the Shearon Harris Reservoir will also benefit the bass populations and duck populations, possibly returning the area to what was once a huge wildlife attraction.
There is also that more difficult to quantify aspect of well-being and even hope that you get from seeing a group of happy turtles sunning on a log with their legs comically outstretched, soaking up the rays just like a group of humans at the beach. When we encounter wildlife like box turtles along a woodland path quietly exploring the world it makes the world feel a little bit more magical. To be a part of preserving the natural tapestry of life is a type of satisfaction that can be hard to come by in our busy and complicated lives.
We want to preserve these amazing creatures and the experiences of them for future generations of both humans and turtles to enjoy.
When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's I spent many a happy day in hot pursuit of small reptiles and amphibians in the woods around my home, an interest heartily supported and inherited from my mother. I drove my older brother absolutely insane in our shared room when I brought specimens back and subsequently loosed them in our living space.
Adulthood however presented me with a dizzying array of challenges including marriage, all kinds of blue collar work, and a dabbling of history and biology courses across my 20's. We moved to Texas, Washington State, and somehow back to Raleigh where I finished my Master's Degree in in Teaching & Social Studies and welcomed my first child, Olivia.
Soon we sought out more open spaces and moved to Moncure NC to design and build our own house and extensive gardens, as well as welcome my second child and begin Dave's Deliveries; my personal business of dump truck delivery that's been going strong for over 20 years now!
Now, as I head into a semi-retirement phase of my life, I have the time and resources, thanks to my amazing and supportive wife and family, to revisit my original love for those reptiles and amphibians that I chased in my childhood. It began as an exploratory hobby, but noticing the stark changes in habitat and populations since my childhood has inspired me to co-found A Turtle For Every Log in hopes of insuring my future grandchildren will be able to appreciate the magic of seeing turtles in every pond they pass!
I grew up in much the same fashion as my dad did. I spent hours and hours exploring the forests, streams and ponds in search of elusive reptiles and amphibians. Each rock and log was an opportunity to learn something new about the creatures in my world. This was always encouraged by both of my parents, but my dad was the one who went hiking with me after every spring rain and took me to the places that he had visited for years where the spotted salamanders spawned or the Slider Turtles came to sunbathe. Through this experience I learned to care for and respect all of these creatures and to see first hand the damage that people have done to them and their habitats.
During the pandemic I suddenly had a little more free time outside of my full time job as a pastry chef to go back to exploring with my dad (at a safe distance of course) and we both noticed that even in the time since my childhood in the 90's habitats had dwindled even more than before. We stopped finding juvenile turtles and only found the older, more established ones and hatchlings that disappeared quickly due to predation and a lack of resources to support them. While sometimes I feel like the world is falling apart, this feels like something that I can actually change for the better. We owe it to the turtles.
Certifications Held
Olivia Walsh
Reptile and Amphibian Possession Permit #
Reptile and Amphibian Rehabilitation Permit #
David Harris
Reptile and Amphibian Possession Permit # 22-AR00627
Reptile and Amphibian Rehabilitation License # 22-AR00628
Fishing License #10671329
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