Turtles Were Dying At High Rates — Here's How Sudbury Is Saving Them

SUDBURY, MA — Have you been wondering why there is a black tarp on Raymond Road? Well, it’s all part of a project to save turtles in Sudbury.

In May, the Sudbury Conservation Commission completed a project to protect the town's turtles. The group built a fence to help turtles cross Raymond Road without getting hit by cars.

“One of our residents came to us who had learned about the turtles she had noticed were getting killed on Raymond Road in past years,” said Lori Capone, the town’s conservation coordinator. “We had noticed in the past that it is an area in town that just has a very high mortality rate for turtles in particular.”

Many species, including snapping, painted and spotted turtles, were hit by vehicles when they tried to cross the road to get to the swamp across the way.

Capone said this is not the only area in town where this happened. There is a similar location on Landham Road, but there are many more mortalities on Raymond Road, which is what led them to choose this spot for the project's first year.

“This particular area lended itself very well to the fence installation because there’s also a large culvert underneath the road in this location,” said Capone. “We saw proof of them using the culvert, so that was very exciting.”

The project took a lot of time and effort to complete, according to Joseph Miller, Sudbury’s conservation land manager, who led the initiative. Miller and volunteers dug tunnels to build the fence, which served to direct the turtles in a different direction.

The fence is constructed of smooth material and is shown to reduce roadkill by over 90%.

The group also installed trail cameras on both sides of the roads to watch the turtles and signage to educate people on why they should slow down.

Miller said he came up with the idea after researching other projects. He said, “Not a lot has been done in this area."

The group borrowed the process from a project in Eastern Canada, according to Miller.

The fence will remain for six months, during the spring and fall migrations. Once winter comes, it is expected to be removed. However, the Sudbury Conservation Commission hopes it can rebuild in the springtime, if funding allows.

“It was definitely great to see how effective it was in reducing the mortality even when we first started and only had it one side of the road,” said Miller. “There were so many less deaths.”

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