News Release

Jamestown Island Loop Drive to Close Intermittently to Protect Migrating Turtles

Date: March 21, 2022
Contact: Lauren Gurniewicz, 757-871-0590

The Island Loop Drive on Jamestown Island in Colonial National Historical Park will be closed intermittently during the final weeks of March and during the months of April, May, and June to allow turtles to move safely through their wetland habitat. Additional closures may occur sporadically throughout the year as conditions warrant. The National Park Service will close this tour road to vehicle traffic at the gate located just past the Jamestown Island Visitor Center.

The 1950’s development of the Jamestown Island tour roads were built in a way that crossed wetlands, becoming a barrier between upland areas and marsh ecosystems. These two habitats are used by five of the eight documented turtle species in the park. The turtles live in ponds, wetlands and the top few inches of the forest floor or inside fallen logs and will crawl or hop distances of a few hundred feet or sometimes more than a ¼ mile in their range to feed and breed. Closing the tour road to vehicles reduces the risk of turtles being crushed by vehicle tires. The Island Loop Drive will remain open to cyclists and visitors on foot, but those visitors must watch for turtles in the road, especially juveniles, which can be crushed by bicycle tires.

About Colonial National Historical Park. Colonial National Historical Park was established in 1930 to preserve important 17th and 18th century sites that tell the story of English colonization and the struggle for American independence. Jamestown’s legacy includes representative government, but also slavery, a brutal institution that spread throughout the colonies. At Yorktown, Virginia colonists fought in the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War. The 23-mile Colonial Parkway links the sites and is recognized as an “All-American road”. Learn more online.

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.