Terrapins Swarm to Restored Shores on Poplar Island

Sometimes our projects come with unexpected surprises.

After constructing a sand dike on #PoplarIsland in the Chesapeake Bay, #DiamondbackTerrapins flocked to the protected beach from Coaches Island, which is 300 feet away, to lay their eggs! Terrapins live in the coastal salt marshes, estuaries, and tidal creeks along the U.S. coast from Massachusetts to Texas. Their populations have declined in many areas, and they are listed as threatened or endangered in some states.

After the unexpected success on Poplar Island, other project managers in the firm reached out to find out what they could do to help the terrapins during other coastal restoration projects. In #ChenierRonquille, a barrier island off the coast of Louisiana, we planted a habitat in the constructed area to attract the terrapins that were later released by the state. And more baby terrapins, currently at a nursery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will be released at #LightningPoint on the Alabama coast when they reach a certain size to make them less vulnerable to predators. We worked with UAB scientists and The Nature Conservancy to design a specialized shell hash habitat that will encourage the terrapins to nest.

#CreativePeopePracticalSolutions#Turtles