Things are picking up for a wildlife biologist hired for the summer to monitor endangered western painted turtles nesting at Burnaby Lake Park.
After a slow start last month, during which she spotted only a few of the at-risk shelled reptiles, Leila Riahi said she is now encountering multiple turtles on some nights.
Riahi, who has a degree in ecological restoration and a diploma in fisheries and wildlife management, was hired for the summer by the Coastal Painted Turtle Project to monitor nesting females.
She can be found hanging out by the nesting beach near the Cariboo Dam five evenings a week with a pair of binoculars and a catalogue of every turtle, complete with photos and descriptors, the Coastal Painted Turtle Project has ever identified in Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake Brook.
On Wednesday, while the NOW was on scene, Turtle 269 emerged from the lake and began wandering down the busy foot path, possibly looking for a place to lay eggs.
Riahi brought her to the more secure, fenced nesting beach nearby, but the turtle decided it wasn’t her time and returned to the water.
Last week, Riahi said another turtle spent several hours painstakingly clawing a hole into the rock-hard path only to return to the water without laying her eggs.
Besides collecting information about the nesting turtles, monitors with the Coastal Painted Turtle Project have for years tried to encourage the females to nest at the protected beach when they can.
That means keeping an eye out for females that look like they’re about to lay eggs in a risky location and moving them to the beach.
Regulars at Burnaby Lake have come to recognize and appreciate the Coastal Painted Turtle Project’s conservation work and monitors, according to Riahi.
She says some people who walk in the park every day have started referring to her as “the turtle lady.”
One couple even brought her “delicious noodles” for dinner recently, she said.
Riahi said she is normally a “hermit introvert” but she loves the attention the Coastal Painted Turtle Project’s work at Burnaby Lake generates.
“This, to me, is just the coolest thing ever,” she said. “It’s such a unique thing, and part of protecting (the turtles) is raising awareness, and that’s super important, so the more people that get invested in their wellbeing the better.”
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