Turtle Crossing - Osoyoos British Columbia - Uncommon Crossing Signs on Waymarking.com

Turtles help keep wetlands clean and healthy by eating dead plants, insects and animals, and play the role of the wetland janitor.

Turtles spend most of their lives in a small area. Between May and October, they sometimes wander as far as 10 kilometres. Like other reptiles, turtles are cold-blooded, so basking on gravel, sandy roadsides or warm asphalt feels good on cooler days. Adult turtles set out to mate in spring and find nesting sites. In late summer and early fall, newly hatched turtles can be seen traveling from where they hatched to a nearby wetland or body of water.

"The Nature Conservancy of Canada encourages motorists to slow down when they see a turtle on the road. It is not just one turtle lost, it can have a bigger impact. Turtles can take up to 25 years before reproducing, and their egg survival rate is very low. Approximately only two eggs out of 100 become adult turtles. A loss of one adult turtle is the loss of 20 years of development. To maintain their numbers within a population, turtles count on the survival of the adults, especially the females. Studies show that just a five per cent increase in annual mortality can put an entire population at risk of decline."
Source: Trail Times

The Osoyoos Oxbows are located in the South Okanagan Valley in south central British Columbia. The oxbows wind along both sides of the Okanagan River channel creating small ponds where turtles and many other amphibians call home. Along Road 22 there is a 400 meters section with several turtle crossing signs.