THEBEACH Summer 2014 | Page 58

56 MAGAZINE | THE BEACH S o much to preserve and so much in need of protection ... Fethiye is blessed by Nature. In the local valleys the market garden industry has expended to grow Kiwis, bananas and avocado while many of the traditional fruits and vegetables grow all year round. Along the coast there are ongoing projects for protection of the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtles nesting “ especially on Babadag ancient Cedar forests live on, existing almost unprotected. During the last Ice Age while plants of the Eurasian plateau froze, those on Babadag due to its proximity to the sea survived, and maybe animals escaping from the cold also found a home here! Lack of research has hindered our knowledge of the extensive diversity of life in the area. Though the brown bear is only to be found further inland, the Babadag range is home to porcupine, lynx, wolves, mountain goat (Capri capri), red squirrel, snake eagle, booted eagle are part of the local wildlife at Dalyan, Fethiye, Patara and Kekova. There are also local groups protecting the Mediterranean Monk Seals. Beach management and nestmonitoring is now in force along most of the coast. The lower regions are covered in Maquis(dwarf forest) and Red Pines,which require little water to tide them over the dry summers, however they are extremely susceptible to forest fires which destroy around 20,000 hectares of Anatolian forest every year. At higher altitudes and tortoise, wild boar, wolves and lynx. Lynx are most rarely seen, living at low density, but they are extremely harmful killing prey several times their size. Fethiye is on one of the migration routes for birds from Asia Africa and Europe. Recent reclamation of wetlands are endangering their habitats Indigenous birds of prey are also on the decrease, as they are the villagers enemy, swooping down to kill their fowl and even steal newly born goats.