ABERFOYLE – Gabriele Monteith and Steve Naylor would like Puslinch Township to take extra care when designing and maintaining roads that go through wetland areas.
Living on a farm in Badenoch that contains 12 acres of provincially significant wetlands, the couple has spent a lot of money to improve the property to ensure turtles aren’t killed while trying to cross roads.
They’ve installed turtle fencing, created nesting sites and even hired a consulting firm to help them understand what can be done to reduce turtle mortality on roads.
“Consider wildlife at the construction stage,” Monteith advised council on June 12.
She said the township practice of using asphalt and bitumen on the shoulders of roads has a detrimental effect on wetlands. Often the materials wind up on the shoulders and beyond after a winter of snow removal and general traffic.
She brought photos showing asphalt and bitumen that had eroded into the wetland in the area of Watson Road South by Wellington Roads 34 and 36.
Naylor suggested adding larger culverts so turtles can cross underneath the roadway, adding flashing lights so drivers will be aware they are in a turtle crossing area, and adding turtle fencing along roadways to discourage turtles from getting to the road. He highlighted guidelines for turtle crossings prepared by the City of Guelph that have reduced turtle mortality by 98 per cent, he said.
Director of Public Works, Parks and Facilities Mike Fowler said it is not the township’s normal practice to use bitumen on roadsides.
“It was a one-off idea,” Fowler explained. “We wanted to use recycled asphalt as bank stabilization. Normally we use granular ‘A’ on shoulders.”
Monteith said turtles like to lay eggs in gravel. They had dumped gravel on their property to provide nesting and basking sites for turtles, who love to lie in the sun.
Fowler said that’s not something the township can necessarily do. “There’s usually drainage at the side of the road,” he said. “We can’t restrict water flow; that’s the main concern with dumping piles of gravel.”
“It is not inexpensive,” said councillor Jessica Goyda. “I would suggest at budget we talk about setting money aside to gradually build and develop a new program. I don’t think we can go full tilt right away… but we could start to put together a plan.”
Mayor James Seeley said he liked the idea of bringing the topic to budget discussions.
“If we do it, we have to do it all through the township,” he said. “But I like the idea of mitigating this through design. Wider paved shoulders and larger setbacks from wetlands,” he said.
“I think there’s some middle ground.”
Council passed a resolution to bring wildlife mitigation measures forward to 2025 budget discussions.
