Adopt-a-Pond comes to Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Jun 23, 2011

Photo: Erin Nadeau with Taylor Ducharme, Ashley Cowan, Mackenzie Whan, Alexi Gray holding models of turtles

Erin Nadeau, who works in the Adopt-a-Pond program with the Toronto Zoo, paid a visit to Sharbot Lake Public School last week to talk turtles and frogs with the junior level students.

“When I do these talks in Toronto I get a lot of questions about frogs and turtles. Here I heard more stories about them. The kids are all very familiar with the different species, behaviour, and the sounds the turtles make because they see them all the time. In Toronto some kids only see them in the zoo.”

The Adopt-a-Pond program includes a turtle and frog tally, which Nadeau encouraged the SLPS students to participate in.

Her visit to the area coincides with a Toronto Zoo effort to do a project on Bobs and Crow Lakes. The zoo learned of the turtle habitat on Bobs Lake from Pat Grace, who lives on Bobs Lake and is such a turtle enthusiast that he has built structures to protect turtle eggs from raccoon attacks. The Bobs and Crow Lake Association, as well as the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, are partnering on the project.

Nadeau's presentation included models of turtles, and slides of common and uncommon species in Eastern Ontario. She will also be visiting Glen Tay school later on, as well as other schools in the wide rim communities around Bobs and Crow Lake.