Frogs, aquatic garter snakes, and salamanders that spawn in the nearby creek have now joined turtles and monarch butterflies in his backyard. Although George would like to introduce native Western pond turtles into the Baxter Creek watershed, he explained that the banks of the branch in Poinsett Park are too narrow for turtles to breed. Turtles need a wide strip of sandy soil for digging nests, filling them with eggs, and covering up the eggs with soil. And they need good sunlight to provide the proper temperature for egg incubation. But FOBC could discourage them from doing that through educational programs at nearby schools.
People have to look at watersheds as a whole.
If you strip the creek banks of vegetation, the resulting silt will affect other branches downstream. The nature-loving FOBC'er is in the process of forming a network of people with property adjoining Baxter Creek to share tips on improving water quality, revegetating creek banks with native plants, and encouraging wildlife to breed in and along the creek. The patience of our turtle, Rambler, for instance, has inspired me in so many ways. Back during the Rodney King riots, she dug a nest and laid eggs the way turtles have done for 280-million years. The gentle way she arranged the eggs in the nest by touch and finally covered and camouflaged it from predators.