Turtle Roadway Mortality Monitoring Program

Citizen Scientists Needed To Monitor Turtle Crossings

Turtles have existed for millions of years, but roadways are threatening the survival of local populations.  Turtles in Massachusetts often cross roadways late spring to early fall and are vulnerable to car collisions.  Ambitious citizen scientists, turtle enthusiasts, and conservation organizations are encouraged to join state wildlife and transportation personnel in collecting data for the Turtle Roadway Mortality Monitoring Program.  Linking Landscapes for Massachusetts Wildlife, a recent partnership between the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW), Department of Transportation (DOT) Highway Division and UMass-Amherst, trained volunteers to collect data in 2010 and is expanding its volunteer program by offering two citizen scientist information and training sessions in Amherst and Westborough. These sessions are designed to train new volunteers, acknowledge current volunteer efforts, and share results from the first year of data collection. The information gathered through this volunteer effort will be used to coordinate local turtle conservation efforts.

The information and training session will be held on Wednesday, May 16^th, 2012 at the United Methodist Church, 6 Holmes Road in Lenox starting at 6:30 pm.  The event will be cosponsored by Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Project Native.  The sessions are free, but pre-registration is required.  Interested volunteers can register with Dave Paulson at David.Paulson@state.ma.us or call him at (508) 389-6366.

Light refreshments will be provided.

For additional information please contact:

David Paulson, Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, MassWildlife
David.Paulson@state.ma.us              508-389-6366

Tim Dexter, Environmental Services Unit, MassDOT Highway Division
Timothy.Dexter@state.ma.us            617-973-8306