PHOTOGRAPH RIGHT : COURTESY OF KATHRYN BEAUCHAMP
“ Last year we had thirty-two volunteers , most of whom just landed in our lap ,” Beauchamp says . “ We had more visitors to the refuge than ever because of COVID , and we stopped many of them to tell them about the project , and some joined as volunteers . So we had plenty of hands on deck , which we needed because on our peak days , the activity doesn ’ t stop .”
The team observed eighty-two terrapins nesting on the peak day last June , and 237 individual turtles were identified during the two-month breeding season , many of which nested multiple times . A total of 117 nests were protected by exclosures , resulting in 1,453 hatchlings emerging from their eggs . But an
additional 407 nests were unprotected and destroyed by predators because not enough exclosures were available or because no one saw those turtles laying their eggs . In 2019 , just sixty-eight nests were protected because fewer volunteers were available to watch for them .
“ To see those hatchlings emerge , that ’ s what drives me ; protecting the turtles to see those babies coming out and hopefully surviving ,” says Beauchamp . “ We ’ re just giving them a little more of a chance to make it .”
It ’ s a mystery why women far outnumber men as volunteers and leaders of the Barrington Terrapin Conservation Project . All are welcome . Yet two of the three people leading the day-to-day monitoring activities are women , as is the previous leader , whose commitment to the project lasted thirty years . And although the scientific field of herpetology — the study of reptiles and amphibians — is overwhelmingly dominated by men , the scientific adviser to the Barrington project and the graduate student and assistant presently conducting research at the site are all women . Most of the newest volunteers are , too .
“ I think there is a very robust tradition of women taking charge on local projects they care about ,” says Carolyn Decker , the URI graduate student studying the terrapin hatchlings . “ It ’ s been really rewarding to have these women as role models in science and conservation . That ’ s been a huge benefit . And maybe there ’ s something poetic about us , as women , working to conserve these ecologically important female turtles .”
Knowing of the dearth of women herpetologists , Decker specifically sought a female mentor for her graduate studies , which is how she ended up enrolling at URI and becoming involved with the terrapin project . Decker ’ s adviser , professor Nancy Karraker , is the scientific adviser to the project .
Karraker says that conservation programs often have more women volunteers than men . Maybe it ’ s because women live longer , or perhaps because women are more sensitive to conservation issues . “ When these groups are dominated by women , they tend to have more of a bottom-up
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