Milton District High School teacher Sean Polap and his construction class were again busy over the winter building habitat boxes for HCA!
This partnership has been ongoing since 2022, and to date, students have created 125 habitat boxes! The bat boxes, turtle nest protectors, bird boxes, and owl boxes are installed across HCA’s watershed including at Valens Lake, Fifty Point, Dundas Valley, Saltfleet, and Fletcher Creek. Conservation area staff install and maintain the structures, monitoring the bird boxes and turtle nest protectors seasonally to ensure nesting and hatchling success!
Nest Protector Rental Program
HCA is once again offering a free turtle nest protector rental program to private landowners.
Nest protectors sit on top of the nest, which is usually a shallow depression in the ground covered by a thin layer of soil. After the turtle lays the eggs and leaves the site, a protector can be placed on top of the nest to prevent predators from reaching the nest. When the eggs hatch, the turtles will be able to dig themselves up from the nest and leave the site, at which point the nest protector can be removed.
A small number of turtle nest protectors are available to landowners in the HCA watershed who encounter nesting turtles on their property. This free rental program will allow landowners to use a turtle protector for the duration of the nesting season, with the protectors returned in the late summer and fall, or after the hatchlings have emerged.
Get in Touch
For more information about the nest box partnership, or to borrow a turtle nest protector please contact:
Cherish Gamble
Watershed Stewardship Technician
cgamble@conservationhamilton.ca
905-525-2181, ext. 181
