Sea Turtle Program

February 25 - Sea Turtles - Did you know that four species of sea turtles are found around Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts in the summer? Come and learn about these endangered species, from the young Kemp's ridleys, the size of a dinner plate, to the giant leatherbacks which can be eight feet long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds.

Karen Dourdeville conducts a sea turtle program with Massachusetts Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

The cost for the program is $6 for nonmembers, $4 for members. Please send registration form (available at the museum) with payment to the Marion Natural History Museum, P.O. Box 644, Marion, MA 02738 to reserve a spot. All programs will meet at the Marion Natural History Museum, 8 Spring Street in Marion. Please register with the museum directly, not the school or library.

http://www.marionmuseum.org/

“Turtle Guy” to speak at library

WAREHAM – Don Lewis, AKA the “Turtle Guy,” will present “Turtles Gone Wild: turtles of the South Coast and Cape Cod” at the Wareham Free Library beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14.

Lewis and his “partner in research and life,” Sue Wieber Nourse, will introduce the diamondback terrapin and Kemp’s ridley sea turtle among other rare and endangered shelled critters of local lands and waters. Among their efforts, the couple rescues stranded sea turtles, warms up cold-stunned turtle babies, relocates terrapin eggs for protection from predators.

The Wareham Land Trust and Wareham Free Library are co-sponsoring the presentation. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call Mack Phinney at 508-295-4225.

http://www.warehamfreelibrary.org/

Wild About Turtles

Thayer Memorial Library

1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18. Project Nature will visit with a fun program featuring live turtles. Children will learn about turtles from around the world. There will be singing, movement, stories and clay sculpture. Come and learn about what turtles eat, if they have teeth, and where turtles live.

Click here for hours and diections to the Thayer Memorial Library, Lancaster's free public library, at 717 Main St. For more library events, check our listing at WickedLocalLancaster.com/books. For more information about the library, call 978-368-8928.

717 Main Street Lancaster, MA 01523

Marion Natural History Museum After School

At the Marion Natural History Museum, an after school program focuses on sea turtles. It will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009. Kids will learn about four species of sea turtles are found around Cape Cod and southeastern Massachusetts in the summer. Learn about these endangered species, from the young Kemp’s Ridley, the size of a dinner plate, to the giant leatherbacks, which can be 8-feet-long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds.

The program is led by Karen Dourdeville, who conducts a sea turtle program with Mass. Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

Cost for the program is $6 for nonmembers, $4 for members.

Send registrations with payment to Marion Natural History Museum, P.O. Box 644, Marion, MA 02738 to reserve a spot. All programs will meet at the Marion Natural History Museum, 8 Spring Street, Marion. Register with the Museum directly, not the school or library. For information www.marionmuseum.org.

EcoZone

Step into the EcoZone, South Shore Natural Science Center's multidimensional, interactive exhibit area that focuses on the ecosystems of southeastern Massachusetts. The main habitats which comprise the EcoZone are wetlands, woodlands and meadows.

Features of the woodland area, include a life-sized model of a red maple tree whose branches extend over the turtle and frog ponds. Tree roots allow our wood and spotted turtles to climb up to an area at the base of the red maple tree. A hollow log, large enough for both children and adults to crawl through divides the turtle and frog ponds. There are peepholes on the interior walls of the hollow log that allow you to peek into the ponds and see turtles and frogs swimming around.


EcoZone, an interactive live animal exhibits with fish, turtles, and bullfrog; critter corner; feed the animals and meet an animal. Hours: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Sat. $5, $3 children/seniors.

South Shore Natural Science Center

P.O. Box 429

48 Jacobs Lane

Norwell, MA 02061

phone: 781-659-2559; fax: 781-659-5924

ssnsc@comcast.net

Herb the sea turtle heading for warmer sanctuary

12/13/2008, 10:50 a.m. EST The Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — His name is Herb, he's 75 pounds with a chestnut brown shell, and when the sea turtle was discovered on a Cape Cod beach earlier in the month, he was very, very cold.

Luckily, the volunteers from the Massachusetts Audubon Sanctuary at Wellfleet Bay who found Herb alerted officials, who transported him to the New England Aquarium in Boston.

Veterinarians and rescue biologists slowly warmed Herb about five degrees each day. When he was found on the Truro beach on Dec. 3, his body temperature was in the 40s. It's now a stable temperature in the low 70's.

That means Herb is ready to make another voyage — this time to the Riverhead Foundation in Long Island, a nonprofit dedicated to the rehabilitation and release of seals, whales, dolphins, and sea turtles.

Herb was the largest of the hypothermic sea turtle rescued from Cape Cod during the fall.

Most hypothermic sea turtles found on Cape Cod that survive are discovered before Thanksgiving. Herb's larger size helped protect him. Larger turtles lose heat more slowly than smaller turtles.

Herb is one of six loggerhead turtles that washed up late this season. They averaged about 50 pounds, and all have survived. Herb is still a a relatively young turtle, probably between 4 and 7 years old. As an adult, he will weigh 200 to 250 pounds.

Unfortunately many other sea turtles that wash ashore have not survived.

Rapidly dropping temperatures have caused a high number of endangered sea turtles to wash ashore dead on Cape Cod beaches.

© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

New Rules Endanger Cape Species

Experts: New rules endanger Cape species
By FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
December 13, 2008 6:00 AM

Animal advocates say they are worried about the Bush administration's decision this week to loosen regulations protecting endangered species, including the large whales.

The changes, which would reduce the involvement of federal scientists and block the use of the Endangered Species Act to combat global warming, go into effect in about 30 days and were completed in four months.

They will eliminate some of the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have performed for 35 years on dams, power plants, timber sales and other projects, which developers and other federal agencies have blamed for delays and cost increases.

The rules also prohibit federal agencies from evaluating the effect on endangered species and the places they live from a project's contribution to increased global warming.

Current rules require biologists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service to sign off on projects even when it is determined that they are not likely to harm species.

Interior Department officials described the changes as "narrow," but acknowledged that the regulations were controversial inside the agency.

Federal agencies still could seek the expertise of federal wildlife biologists on a voluntary basis, and other parts of the law will ensure that species are protected, they said.

"Nothing in this regulation relieves a federal agency of its responsibilities to ensure that species are not harmed," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a conference call with reporters.

But others said the federal Act was gutted.

Among the animals in the Cape and Islands region protected under the Endangered Species Act are large whales, sea turtles, plovers, terns and more, said Robert Prescott of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in Wellfleet.

There would be less oversight of local projects, such as the expansion of seaports, construction of outfall pipes and the relocation of international shipping lanes, local advocates for animals said.

"The problem is, we are all working in the endangered species field with a precautionary principle," said Charles "Stormy" Mayo, a whale expert with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. "If you're going to make an error, you should make it on the side of caution. It's very clear that the changes that have been made do not add to the caution."

Between 1998 and 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service conducted 300,000 consultations. The National Marine Fisheries Service, which evaluates projects affecting marine species, conducts about 1,300 reviews a year.

In the Northeast, there are about 200 to 300 formal and informal consultations annually, said Teri Frady of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Members of Congress, including Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., sent a letter in early September to Kempthorne and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez objecting to the "weakening" of the long-standing consultative roles of the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service.

The representatives questioned whether an agency such as the Department of Homeland Security would hire qualified biologists to assess the effects of a project on endangered species.

"The people who are doing the consulting are the same people doing the work," said Jake Levenson of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouthport. "The review can be less critical."

President-elect Barack Obama has said he would work to review the changes. But because the rule takes effect before he is sworn in, he would have to restart the lengthy rule-making process. A House leader pledged to overturn the regulations using the Congressional Review Act after consulting with other Democratic leaders. The rarely used law allows Congress to review new federal regulations.

In a related development, the Interior Department also finalized Thursday a special rule for the polar bear, a species that was listed as threatened in May because of global warming. The rule would allow oil and gas exploration in areas where the bears live, as long as the companies comply with the Marine Mammal Protection Act.




Source: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081213/NEWS/812130309