6/22/2005

JUNE IS TURTLE MONTH

June is the month when normally aquatic snapping, painted, spotted, red-bellied, Blanding’s and other turtles leave the relative safety of their water world and venture overland in search of nesting sites. With alarming frequency, these ancient reptiles are cut off from traditional nesting areas by an ever increasing network of roads, leaving the turtles vulnerable to high rates of road-kill. 

Dubbed the “Killing Grid” by herpetologists studying the dilemma, roads take a terrible toll on female turtles that normally offset low reproductive success rates with long reproductive life spans. Cutting short adult life spans limits recruitment of young turtles in the wild and can ultimately result in the complete loss of local turtle populations. To add to the crisis, roads bring increasing development which translates into loss of nesting habitat and additional losses of turtles and turtle nests to people, and residential dwelling predators such as skunks, foxes and raccoons. 

 

The solution? On a landscape scale large tracts of habitat need to be protected to ensure the viability of Massachusetts’ native turtles. The BioMap and Living Waters, created by MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage Program with funding from the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, identifies such tracts and superimposes them on a statewide map creating a “greenprint” for the conservation of biodiversity. State, local and private conservation agencies and organizations are embracing the BioMap and Living Waters maps to guide habitat protection efforts. The recent adoption of GREEN Certification standards by state environmental agencies for sustainable forest management also helps to insure that care is taken to conserve rare species during the planning and implementation of timber sales on state owned forest lands.

At this time of year, citizens can assist turtles moving to and from nesting areas by helping them across roadways. While this Samaritan act should never be attempted if any human risk is involved, a successful road crossing can make the difference between nesting now and well into the future, versus no nesting at all. Always remember to help a turtle only when safe to do so and always move the turtle in the direction it is heading. Do not take the animal to another location or a pond! Snappers may be safely held by the tail with the underside of the animal toward your leg while painted, spotted and other species can be safely grasped by the sides of the shell. 

Encounters with rare state-protected turtles such as box, wood, spotted, red-bellied, bog or Blanding’s should be reported to MassWildlife with photo and map documentation. To report a rare species visit the MassWildlife website in the Natural Heritage area at: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhrprare.htm.