The past few weeks have been busy on the Burnett River, in preparation for the start of the nesting season for the White-throated Snapping Turtle. On a couple of popular nesting areas near South Kolan, BCCA have been working with landholders, Dept of Environment and Resource Management, and the National Green Jobs Corps from IMPACT Employment Services to erect electric fences that will keep grazing cattle from trodding on nests and some hungry dogs and foxes as well as some native predators from destroying the nests.
As you may have heard us mention before, this freshwater turtle species is under threat from such elements, and the results are a major imbalance in the generatations: 99% of the turtle population are adults! Where are all the juveniles to continue the species? Nest predation has been a common occurance in the Burnett and it is a major threat to the survival of the species, which some suggestions that they may not be in existence in 10 or 20 years time.
So to start with, two significant sites were identified by DERM as areas to protect with this fencing. The team from Impact have provided us with a group of young people learning skills in conservation to do the labour. Each fenced area is approximately 500m2 of sandy slopey ground with some grass patches.
Check out the photos on Elsie the White-throated Snapping Turtle’s FACEBOOK page.