What does B.C.’s population of western painted turtles have in common with a team of fictional ghostly baseball players?
“If you build it, they will come,” says restoration specialist Julie Budgen, from Sooke-based Corvidae Environmental Consulting.
That “Field of Dreams philosophy” was at the heart of a Vancouver Island project to create a protected nesting habitat for Langford Lake’s population of western painted turtles.
Several years ago, suitable nesting sites for the endangered species were hard to come by, with much of the lake’s sunny, south-facing shoreline privately owned.
For successful incubation of their eggs, western painted turtles need warm, south-facing upland areas with loose, well-drained soft substrate, such as sand. With few safe options available around the lake, the turtles were forced into some unusual choices.
Some attempted nesting in campfire pits on residents’ properties, while others hauled their way up to the E&N rail track, attempting to dig into dry, compacted dirt.
“This is universal of turtles throughout British Columbia,” says Jessica Harvey, Corvidae’s senior biologist and project manager. “They’re wonderful creatures, but not very smart, and quite lazy.
“They will use the first available suitable habitat, and so turtles have a really bad habit of nesting in pathways and roadsides – places that are not really safe to do so.”
As part of a development agreement with the City of Langford, developer Westhills was required to dedicate 40 per cent of its overall 500-acre footprint as public parkland, including 500 metres of Langford Lake’s shoreline.
Working with Westhills, Harvey spotted an opportunity to help the struggling turtles.
A small area of the developer-owned shoreline faced just far enough south to provide the amount of sunshine needed by B.C.’s only native freshwater turtle.
“We could maybe make a space for them to nest that was protected – and not on someone’s lawn,” she said.
Funded by Westhills, crews installed split rail fencing to protect 250 metres of shoreline, while 80 tonnes of sand was trucked in to create a new nesting site, nicknamed ‘turtle island’.
Basking logs were also added offshore, invasive plant species removed, and rushes and bulrushes planted to shield the island from lake users.
Costing less than $200,000, the project was completed in 2022.
And just like the whispered promise in the cornfields of the 80s movie Field of Dreams, once the habitat was built, the turtles came.
Within the first year, there were 15 nests counted, with eggshells confirming hatchlings had emerged.
“Knowing that we orchestrated and executed a project that was really for the greater good of a population of species at risk made my heart happy,” said Harvey. “On Southern Vancouver Island, most development is using green space to make space for humans, so this was a really nice opportunity to see a little bit of space be given back to wildlife.
“To see that it succeeds is just the cherry on top.”
Western painted turtles are also found in other Greater Victoria freshwater lakes. Budgen says Corvidae is working with the Capital Regional District to explore possible habitat improvements at Metchosin’s Matheson Lake and with the District of Sooke at Nott Pond.
Turtle nesting sites have also been created at Beaver Lake.
However, Budgen believes Langford’s is the largest on Vancouver Island.
“This is Langford style, go big or go home,” she says. “This is a massive nesting site, it’s awesome.”
With the land now owned by the City of Langford, Corvidae works with the municipality to maintain the site, assessing it twice a year for invasive plant species.
Budgen says each year they have seen increased evidence of nesting and hatching.
As for how many western painted turtles there are in Langford Lake, Budgen and Harvey say it’s difficult to know for certain. A study conducted between 2008 to 2014 recorded 108 sightings, while Corvidae’s 2022 survey documented 50.
Harvey hopes another study can be conducted in the near future to help measure the long-term impact of the habitat restoration project on the lake’s turtle population.
“But we just know that they’re breeding and that they’re using it, and so the assumption is that it’s having a positive contribution to the population,” she says.
Budgen says the team also hopes to install a camera at the nesting site to help gather more data on the turtles’ activity.
For now, Budgen says every western painted turtle sighting is a reason to celebrate.
As a species sensitive to change, she says the turtles are an important indicator of the overall health of Langford Lake – and a reminder of why protecting them matters.
“If you make something beneficial for them, you’re also helping many other species and plants,” she said.
For herpetologist Harvey, who was “that little kid” always with a garter snake and a frog in her pocket, the project has been a chance to champion the underdog.
Faced with habitat loss and competition from the invasive red-eared slider turtle, the western painted turtle continues to fight for survival in a changing landscape.
“I’ve seen them nesting in gravel in crazy places, and then the nest hatches, and you have these tiny turtles that somehow find their way back to the water,” she says.
“I think they’re just a really interesting story of resilience. So having been able to have a little bit of a hand in their story of survival is a really cool experience.”
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