Description and Mission Statement
The Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station is a field research and educational facility of Southeastern Louisiana University, and is located in the Lake Pontchartrain estuarine ecosystem. Because of its location at the upper end of this major estuary, Turtle Cove is within one hour by boat of various wetland environments and their
aquatic counterparts. These environments range from entirely fresh to moderately saline environments and include bottomland hardwood forests, baldcypress swamps, and fresh and intermediate marshes.
Moreover, each of these habitat types exists in relatively undisturbed, degraded, and restored states, thus facilitating comparative research. Because of its unique location, this facility complements other field stations in the stat
e and across the nation, that may be more concerned with either higher salinity marine waters or freshwater ecosystems.
Turtle Cove's mission is "to promote environmental awareness in southeastern Louisiana; encourage educators and their students to take an active role in environmental restoration and education; and serve as a liaison between research scientists, educators and students, and the general public".