TURTLE - Together Understanding and Restoring Turtles in our Landscapes and Ecosystems.
From the Mighty Murray and its wetlands and floodplains to the smaller creeks and swamps of the Mt Lofty Ranges and Limestone Coast, SA's waterways have been significantly altered from their natural state. The biodiversity impacts of these changes, in many cases, remain little understood. Freshwater turtles inhabit all of these mainland waterways. They are culturally significant to First Nations and play an important ecological role in maintaining water quality.
Unfortunately, past research along the Murray, local citizen science findings, and First Nations knowledge all point to SA’s turtles being in serious decline. This project brings a large and diverse range of passionate partners together, including landscape boards, First Nations, citizen scientists, NGOs, Councils and landholders, to continue researching turtles and their threats, undertake priority on-ground actions, and develop a management plan that will guide the conservation of freshwater turtles across SA into the future.
