The sandbars of the lower St. Croix River south of Osceola developed partly through natural progression but mostly during the logging era, when multiple gated dams, levees, and wing dams controlled the river’s flow for log transportation. That manipulation of the river, combined with deforestation and erosion, sent large amounts of sediment-laden water downstream, and by the 1880s the once-navigable river had become too shallow for steamboats, which were stranded on the sandbars. The sandbar landscape still changes every year as spring floods add new sediment or carry it farther downstream. These sandbars are a key feature of the Lower St. Croix River and are enjoyed by rivergoers and wildlife alike. They also provide important turtle habitat, because females bury their leathery eggs in sandy soil where there are fewer predators. Along the St. Croix River, turtles eat both plants and animals, use hard beak-like mouths to cut because they do not have teeth, and hibernate in winter by burying themselves along the shores, on the sandbars, or under the water while their heart rate, breathing, and most body functions slow. When warm weather returns, they reappear along the river. The most common turtles on the Lower St. Croix River are the painted turtle, smooth softshell turtle, snapping turtle, and false map turtle.