{"id":6442,"date":"2019-07-15T17:48:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T17:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=6442"},"modified":"2023-06-16T18:41:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T18:41:56","slug":"my-answer-to-the-age-old-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/my-answer-to-the-age-old-question\/","title":{"rendered":"My Answer to the Age-Old Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>&#8220;So, what do you do?&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>My barber asked me this common enough question a few weeks ago. In the spirit of small talk, I boiled it down to the most basic idea of what I\u2019m doing for the summer; I look for turtles.<\/p>\n<p>He gave me a look, a chuckle, and a feeling that he didn\u2019t take it seriously. I couldn\u2019t blame him. It sounds too silly and whimsical to be actual work, and some of the time it is.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll explain it a little better for you than I did for the barber.<\/p>\n<h3>Turtle Team<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-standard wp-image-6445\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Chris-crossing-brook-480x640.jpeg\" alt=\"Chris crossing a creek\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I am one of the four proud members of the Canadian Wildlife Federation\u2019s Turtle Team, led by David Seburn, CWF\u2019s Freshwater Turtle Specialist. Our work is focused on the conservation of Canada\u2019s threatened turtle populations.<\/p>\n<p>This involves public outreach and education, reducing risks to vulnerable populations through:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/weve-got-turtle-eggs\/\">Egg collection and incubation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/live-long-and-prosper\/\">Road surveys and identification of road mortality hotspots<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/wetlands-the-unsung-heroes-of-our-natural-world\/\">Habitat protection through wetland surveys<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Looking for Turtles<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-standard wp-image-6446\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/chris-wl-bug-net-binoculars-wetland-1100x640.jpg\" alt=\"Looking for turtles in the wetland\" width=\"1100\" height=\"640\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The wetland surveys are carried out on Crown land or the private properties of landowners who are interested in turtle conservation. Once we arrive at the wetlands, we strap on our wading boots, don our bug nets, sling our binoculars around our necks and wade out in search of turtles.<\/p>\n<p>Our focus is the Threatened Blanding\u2019s Turtle. Our goal is to protect the precious habitat in which these turtles are found. To do this, we need to find a Blanding\u2019s Turtle, take a photo of it and record where we found it. At this point, the wetland is officially protected under the <em>Endangered Species Act<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Easy enough, right?<\/p>\n<p>Well, what if I told you that <em>endangered<\/em> is usually synonymous with <em>rare<\/em> and <em>hard to find.<\/em> Also, wetlands are usually associated with biting insects \u2013 a lot of them.<\/p>\n<p>Some days we spend six hours waist-deep in muddy water surrounded by legions of blackflies and mosquitos\u00a0\u2014 all trying to get a bite out of us. The sun is beating down on our heads, but there\u2019s no way of cooling off because if we remove any clothing at all, we just provide more banquet for the bugs to munch.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s not to mention the ticks. It\u2019s been a few weeks and one of us has already been bitten by a Deer Tick, which can transmit Lyme Disease (thankfully she was fine \u2013 always immediately seek medical treatment if you have been bitten by a tick!).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3667\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3667\" style=\"width: 1100px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-standard wp-image-3667\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/turtle-team3-1100x640.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 David Seburn | CWF Staff\" width=\"1100\" height=\"640\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3667\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of two Blanding\u2019s Turtles that we found during an outing on May 10.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Even after all of that, many times we don\u2019t actually find a <a href=\"http:\/\/cwf-fcf.org\/en\/resources\/encyclopedias\/fauna\/amphibians-and-reptiles\/turtles\/blandings-turtle.html?src=blog\">Blanding\u2019s Turtle<\/a>. It can be exhausting and extremely frustrating work, especially when you know they\u2019re likely there, we just can\u2019t find them. But when you do find one of these remarkable creatures, the effort is completely worth it.<\/p>\n<h3>The Journey&#8217;s Not That Bad, Either<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-standard wp-image-6447\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Chris-in-cattails-480x640.jpeg\" alt=\"Tiptoe-ing through the cattails\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" \/>The places we go to survey are undeniably beautiful, ancient and teeming with a variety of plant and animal life.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve seen a community of nesting Great Blue Herons, porcupines climbing trees, a family of coyotes, a ball of mating snakes, prehistoric-looking snapping turtles the size of manhole covers, and even multi-storied beaver dams! These places are magical, diverse and incredibly important, which makes the stakes for us to find Blanding\u2019s Turtles and protect these ecosystems even higher. Upwards of 70 per cent of southern Ontario\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/wetlands-the-unsung-heroes-of-our-natural-world\/\">wetlands<\/a> have already been lost.<\/p>\n<p>Although most people have a romanticized view of fieldwork, at times it can be incredibly stressful, labour intensive and uncomfortable. It\u2019s tough and dirty work. But it is paramount to turtle conservation, and someone\u2019s got to do it. This summer it got to be me.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4967\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4967\" style=\"width: 1100px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-standard wp-image-4967\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/protect-wetlands-blanding-turtle-inaturalist-phone-mobile-1100x640.jpg\" alt=\"upload observations to inaturalist.ca\" width=\"1100\" height=\"640\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4967\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">upload observations to inaturalist.ca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>You can help too! If you see a <a href=\"http:\/\/cwf-fcf.org\/en\/resources\/encyclopedias\/fauna\/amphibians-and-reptiles\/turtles\/blandings-turtle.html?src=blog\">Blanding\u2019s Turtle<\/a> please report it on <a href=\"https:\/\/inaturalist.ca\/projects\/help-the-turtles-aidez-les-tortues\">iNaturalist.ca<\/a>. You can find out more about our turtle work at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.HelptheTurtles.ca\/?src=blog\">HelpTheTurtles.ca<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<p>Author:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"avatar avatar-120 wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-120 photo alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/chris-sullivan.png\" alt=\"Chris Sullivan\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><a title=\"Posts by Chris Sullivan\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/author\/chris-sullivan\/\" rel=\"author\">Chris Sullivan<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>Chris Sullivan is a participant in the Canadian Conservation Corps. This summer he is helping out with CWF\u2019s Help the Turtles project in eastern Ontario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-excerpt\">&#8220;So, what do you do?&#8221; My barber asked me this common enough question a few weeks ago. In the spirit of small talk, I boiled it down to the most&hellip;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6458,631,6,637],"tags":[984,1038,3529,2013,2555,7793,703],"class_list":["post-6442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canadian-conservation-corps","category-connect-with-nature","category-endangered-species","category-lakes-rivers","tag-blandings-turtle","tag-canadian-conservation-corps","tag-ccc-adventure","tag-ccc-field-learning","tag-ccc-phase-2","tag-group-11","tag-help-the-turtles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6442"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12822,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6442\/revisions\/12822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}