BR Bright Spot: Swift Action Saves Nesting Turtles
- cheryl7854
- Jul 10, 2024
- 2 min read
We've all heard the joke "Why did the chicken cross the road...." but it was no laughing matter when a Baton Rouge resident saw a heart wrenching sight on Stanford Avenue. The LSU Communications Manager frequently walks the Lakes and noticed many turtles struck by cars as they tried to cross the busy, four-lane road.
Libby Haydel told "The Advocate" she counted 28 dead turtles that were hit while trying to cross from the sidewalk spanning BREC's Milford Wampold Memorial Park to South Stadium Drive.
So Haydel reached out to BREC and within days the park system's natural resource management team installed a 2-foot high, 400-foot long fence made of landscape fabric. The fence "creates a barrier to keep the turtles from crossing the busiest part of the street and directs them to grassier areas near the lake, so they don't have to cross the street," Natural Resources Manager Lydia Nichols-Russell told the newspaper.
Nichols Russell says turtle nesting season lasts from April to July and turtles are moving from water to higher ground to dig holes and lay their eggs. She told the newspaper and WBRZ-TV that BREC plans to keep the fence up until the end of July and would likely switch materials next season since there will be time to plan ahead for the turtle rescue operation.
Haydel even helped erect the barrier during her lunch hour and lauded the Gold Medal park system for its quick response. "It was so great to actually be able to be out there and physically help prevent more turtle deaths," she said. "BREC responded so swiftly."
This is a great example of how one phone call can change our community for the better and how the quick action of an agency builds trust and goodwill with the people it serves. Now that's a BR Bright Spot!
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