This season has been busy and rewarding for us, and we are excited to share some of what we have accomplished. One of the highlights was our turtle release program, which received attention from CTV News. Be sure to check out our CTV News story here.
Even though our summer programs are coming to an end, our nature trails are still open and well kept thanks to our executives Paul, Michel, and JP.
To learn more about our summer programs and their impact, please see our newsletter attached below.
Thank you for your continued support!
Andrea O’Halloran and Meghan Meilleur
President and Vice President of FOPI
September 2026 Newsletter
This season has been busy and rewarding for us, and we are excited to share some of what we have accomplished. One of the highlights was our turtle release program, which received attention from CTV News. Be sure to check out our CTV News story here.
Even though our summer programs are coming to an end, our nature trails are still open and well kept thanks to our executives Paul, Michel, and JP.
To learn more about our summer programs and their impact, please see our newsletter attached below.
Thank you for your continued support!
Andrea O’Halloran and Meghan Meilleur
Turtle Conservation Wrap-up
As we wrap up another successful turtle
conservation season, we wanted to share
the positive impact your support has had
on our local turtle population. This
season, we were able to release over 300
turtles into the wild. Of the 386 eggs we
incubated, over 80% successfully hatched.
This is a much higher hatch rate than
expected in the wild.
Turtle eggs face many threats in the wild.
They can be eaten by predators such as
raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and skunks. One
of the main concerns for adult turtles on
Petrie Island is the risk of road mortality
due to the high traffic on the island.
Turtles can take 12+ years to reach
maturity, so their loss has a big impact on
the population. Through our turtle
conservation programs, we are able to
protect the eggs ensuring their survival.
We just wrapped up our last turtle release
of the season. Thank you to our nearly 800
attendees who joined us over 18 releases.
Thank you members for supporting our
turtle conservation work and helping us
make a difference for turtles this season! We
would also like to thank the Canadian
Wildlife Federation for their guidance this
summer as well as all of the volunteers that
supported the project. We would not have
been able to do it without them.
Thank you to our High School Volunteers
Our High School volunteers have worked
incredibly hard throughout July and
August to care for Petrie Island and keep
it clean and welcoming for everyone to
enjoy. They have regularly walked our
trails and surrounding green space to
remove litter, helped weed our gardens,
and given our picnic tables a fresh coat of
paint. We are so grateful for their time
and energy. We hope they have learned
something new during their time, and we
look forward to welcoming them back for
more volunteering in the future!
FOPI Summer Staff
The FOPI summer staff are now done for
the season. Our staff loved the opportunity
to help steward the island this summer. Tim
and Nick, our Environmental
Coordinators, said their favourite events
of the summer were the turtle releases,
where they got to see kids’ excitement for
the baby turtles. Our Wildlife Technician,
Jordan-Anne loved “finding and excavating
the first [turtle] nest of the season.” She
said that “it was a culmination of training
and hard work by both our turtle nesting
volunteers and myself and represented the
start of an exciting season to come.”
Finally, our Park Monitors, Leila and
Emilia, enjoyed both wrapping the baby
turtles after they hatched and seeing the
progress of the Wildflower Gardens, thanks
to their work and that of countless
volunteers. We hope to welcome some of
them back again next summer!
Even though our summer staff are no
longer working, we still have work being
done for the island year round. In our off
season, executive members reflect on the
previous season and look for ways to
improve, plan next years projects, and
continue to maintain trails.
Kids’ Naturalist
We have completed our last Kids
Naturalist Session this summer. Over
the course of the summer, we welcomed
an incredible 300 participants across 15
different sessions. Each session gave
youth the opportunity to explore
Petrie’s biodiversity and apply their
knowledge through hands on activit.
Thank you to everyone who joined us at
our Young Naturalist sessions this year.
We hope to see you again next year!
FOPI Pavillion
We are pleased to announce our
plans to build a new flood-resistant
pavilion. This gathering place will
allow us to expand our science
programs, welcome more
community groups, and host even
more conservation events. If you
would like to support this project,
you can make a donation on our
website or e-transfer directly to
deposit@petrieisland.org.