Why did the turtle cross the tour road? A recent study of turtle travel on Jamestown Island at Colonial National Historical Park will help park staff target the best times and places to close roads for turtle protection.

Besides being the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown Island is home to eight species of turtles. They live in low-lying pine forests and wetlands to the east of the historic town and frequently cross the island’s loop roads to find food, lay eggs, mate, or find a new home. To help prevent turtle injuries and deaths, the park collaborated on a study with Richard Seigel, Professor Emeritus of Biology at Towson University. (The NPS Natural Resource Condition Assessment program supported this work through a task agreement under the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit.)  

This video in the NPS series “Outside Science (inside parks)” shows their intensive method of surveying turtles on the road by bike: Protecting Turtles at Jamestown Island | Video (U.S. National Park Service)

Learn more about this study in: Assessment and Mitigation of Road Mortality of Turtles at Colonial National Historical Park