Help turtle hatchlings cross safely on Titicus Road

Dear Editor,

Recently, I contacted my Town Board about a recent issue and one of the board members, Katherine Daniels, suggested I write to North Salem News as a way to spread awareness to our community.

One of the most valuable passions I have discovered living in North Salem is a love for nature and wildlife. As a result, I am always looking for ways to help animals and noticing the problems they face. Around this time of year, during late summer to early fall, there is an area in between Saint James Episcopal Church and the Croton Falls Fire Department Station 2 where turtle hatchlings attempt to cross on Titicus Road.

I believe they are trying to move from their nesting site to the pond on the other side. Unfortunately, the majority of the hatchlings that cross do not survive and are killed by vehicles.

Last year in 2025 my family and I had been driving along this stretch of Titicus when we noticed about two or three turtle hatchlings that had been run over. One turtle was actually still alive and unharmed and we were able to get it safely to the pond side.

I was driving home on Sunday, Aug. 8, around 3 p.m. when I passed this area again. I immediately noticed two turtles in the road and pulled over to try to help them. The turtles’ shells had been split open and both had unfortunately died from these injuries. Once I was out of my car and on the road I was also able to see nearly 10 deceased turtles, including the two I originally noted. These hatchlings were much larger than the turtles last year, which I believe made their injuries more severe.

When I recalled these events to my parents later that day, they also noted that they had both in years past, on separate occasions, helped two fully grown turtles to cross this exact part of the road.

Turtles are a vital species in their ecosystem. They keep wetlands healthy and clean by consuming decaying plants and dead fish, getting rid of harmful bacteria and cycling nutrients back into the environment. Turtles are also predators to aquatic life like small fish and snails. If there aren’t enough turtles, an ecosystem can become unbalanced with too much prey.

I understand that roadkill can be difficult to prevent, but I hope there might be a way to address the issue. While I haven’t been able to find a very wide variety of solutions researching online, I have suggested to the town as well as the New York Department of Transportation that we implement seasonal signage to make drivers more aware of the turtles. Other towns have also created more large scale implements such as “turtle tunnels” that run under bigger roadways.

I think the majority of people don’t want to harm animals while driving but are often simply unaware that what is in front of them is a living creature until it’s too late. Others may just assume they will make it out of the way in time. Either way, I think knowing to drive with caution around wetlands and bodies of water would help to prevent further incidents.

-Finn Northshield, North Salem