I’ve been asked what’s the deal with the fence? The chain link fence was erected as part of the 2022 REDI money south shore stabilization project, a NY State funded project in response to the 2019 high water year on Lake Ontario that caused a small amount of erosion of the bay side of the bar right next to the jetty. Over a million dollars was spent on erosion protection for the entire park bay shore. It included offshore 'berms' of rock, shoreline shaping and plantings of various trees and bushes. The theory was these would grow and form a mat of roots to stabilize the eroding shore. (We’ll discuss this assumption and the results more in a future post.) The fence was erected to keep people from trampling on and damaging the newly established trees and bushes. However along much of its length the fence was tight to the ground. This prevented any passage between land and water of animals. Various aquatic creatures were now blocked from resting spots and nursery areas on shore. Among these were the turtles that had previously nested north of the road to the jetty. Turtles have been around for a long time- like 250 million years long before T rex walked the the earth. They are survivors and are widely admired and respected for their ability to just keep slogging along. But the chain link fence didn't compute. A herpetologist told me when a turtle encounters a fence she can see through she tries to dig under it. (I have seen this myself at a pond on Lake Street in the village that was fenced with chain link.) But the West Side turtles couldn’t dig under the fence because it had heavy fiber erosion mat underneath it. So they couldn’t reach their nursery areas. We are now working with the village to correct this situation. In March we’ll get a crew of volunteers together to modify the fence for passage ways for the turtles. Stay tuned. I will add a Kyle Meddaugh photo of an old lady visiting the nursery area.