Massachusetts wildlife officials seeks top turtle roadkill sites

Massachusetts wildlife officials seek public's help locating top turtle roadkill sites

Question: Why did the turtle cross the road?

Answer: A genetic imperative.

By Stan Freeman for MassLive.com

Photo by Stan Freeman

In recent weeks, turtles have been climbing out of the comfortable confines of ponds, lakes and streams, driven by strong reproductive instincts that have launched them on a search to find a suitable spot on dry land to lay eggs.

However, a huge number of them are killed on roadways as they make the effort, and that worries state wildlife officials who are asking the public’s help in identifying turtle death hot spots.

“Many turtle species in Massachusetts are in decline and a lot of that has to do with road mortality,” said Marion E. Larson, a wildlife biologist for the state Division of Fisheries & Wildlife.

“So we’re asking people to tell us about where they are seeing road-killed turtles to try and identify where there are highway crossings with a lot of mortality,” Larson said. “Then, as roads are repaired by departments of transportation, they may be able to change the design to make it more turtle friendly.”

The Turtle Roadway Mortality Study is a joint multi-year effort by the state Department of Transportation, the state Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and the Vernal Pool Association. The online citizen reporting page can be found at: http://linkinglandscapes.info.

Massachusetts has 10 native turtles, all of which lay their eggs on land, even though some (including the state’s largest native turtle, the snapping turtle) almost never venture from water at any other time.

The peak time for egg laying is late May to early July. Typically, the eggs, which are laid in holes dug in loose or sandy soil, hatch in two to three months.

Begun in 2010, the turtle study will need several years of data before the researchers “can feel confident that we’ve identified the majority of the significant roadkill sites” in the state, said Michael T. Jones, a biologist at University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Jones is one of the project’s coordinators.

“The worst sites that we currently know of are in eastern Massachusetts, where road density and traffic volume are greatest. At one particularly bad site in Middlesex County, more than 100 turtles of multiple species are killed each spring,” he said.

At that site, along Route 119 in Littleton, the state is putting in a “turtle-friendly” culvert, as part of a scheduled road upgrade, that will act as a tunnel to allow them to cross beneath the road, Larson said.

As road sections throughout the state come up for repair or upgrade, the list of turtle-mortality hot spots will be consulted to see if a change could be made to the project design to lower the mortality, Larson said.

Turtles can live long lives, with some box turtles reaching 100 years. Since some species do not reach reproductive age until they are age 10 or more, early deaths can have a great impact on their population, Jones said.

“Turtle populations appear to be more negatively affected by high levels of roadkill than amphibians and most mammals,” he said.

However, that occurs because of the breaking up of landscapes by roads and development. According to the state Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, the number one reason why turtle populations – as well as those of many animals – are in decline is the fragmentation, degradation and loss of habitat.

Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/massachusetts_wildlife_officia.html

© 2011 masslive.com. All rights reserved.

Eel River restoration complete

More than 60 acres of habitat for wildlife and the public have been restored in Plymouth - recreating a white cedar swamp with dramatic improvements to fish passage, water quality, wetlands, bird migration corridors and recreational opportunities.

The $2 million Eel River project team recently won a national Coastal America Partnership Award for its multi-year effort.

The project area, now protected as the Eel River Preserve, is off Long Pond Road in Plymouth. The spring-fed Eel River drains to Plymouth Harbor.

““It is this type of grassroots partnership that will protect and restore sensitive coastal areas for wildlife and people to enjoy,’’ “said Eileen Sobeck, Department of the Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in a statement.

The award, given to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Massachusetts environmental agencies, the Town of Plymouth and local companies, recognizes collaborations that leverage and combine resources to accomplish coastal restoration, preservation, protection and education projects.

The team restored about 40 acres of retired cranberry bogs and removed a downstream dam. The removal or replacement of six culverts and the placement of hundreds of large wood pieces helped create habitat and passage for aquatic species, as well as reestablish natural water flow, according to an announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

More than 24,000 plants, including 17,000 Atlantic white cedar trees, have been planted to help restore rare wetland plant communities. The area supports one of few New England populations of the federally endangered northern red-bellied cooter turtles, as well as populations of eastern box turtles, bridle shiner fish, barrens buckmoth, adder’s-tongue fern and swamp oats.

The area, now managed by the Town of Plymouth, was historically known as Finney’s Meadow, according to the press release. A series of mills and dams were constructed in the early 1800s, and cranberry farming began in the second half of that century, continuing until 2002, according to a press release on the restoration.

Major financial contributions were provided by the USFWS National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program, NRCS and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Section 319 Grant Program.

Project partners include: Town of Plymouth, Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program), U.S. Department of Agriculture (Natural Resources Conservation Service), American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy, Massachusetts Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, Horsley Witten Group, Inter-fluve, Inc., Sumco Eco-Contracting, and the A.D. Makepeace Company.

Photo caption: The Eel River Preserve in Plymouth, Mass., is home to one of the few New England populations of northern red-bellied cooter turtles. (Bill Byrne, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.)

Source: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2011/06/eel_river_restoration_complete.html

Tanks for the National Marine Life Center's efforts

Readying for sea turtle rescues

BUZZARDS BAY —

Though her species is considered “threatened” in Massachusetts, Teanna is a fortunate little Diamond-backed Terrapin.

Luck was not exactly on her side last January, though.

That’s when the salt marsh turtle somehow managed to fall into a basement window well, and became trapped.

No one’s sure how long she was stuck without food or water, but to say she was a shell of her former self when discovered is an understatement.

She was near death and needed emergency medical treatment. That’s when her luck got better.

She was rushed to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, where she was stabilized.

But she needed somewhere to convalesce, and that’s where the National Marine Life Center stepped in, said the NMLC’s Director of Science and associate veterinarian, Dr. Sea Rogers Williams.

Today, a hale and hearty Teanna is due to be released back in her native Wellfleet this week, and shares a front room at the NMLC’s offices at 120 Main St. with a trio of ailing Northern red-bellied cooters, though not the same tank.

Williams said the NMLC is happy to help the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife with local turtle travails, but its guiding mission is to rescue and restore stranded sea turtles, seals and larger sea-going aquatic creatures.

The non-profit has recently completed installation of two tanks, fed by the abutting Cape Cod Canal, capable of sustaining Teanna’ larger sea-going cousins, as well as seals. Three more tanks are also being prepared in the NMLC’s hospital facility and work is still underway to install even larger tanks that can be used to aid in the treatment of dolphins and small whales.

As friendly as Cape Cod can be to human tourists, it can be a tough ’hood for visiting aquatic creatures. Each year up to 56 seals, 98 dolphins and 144 sea turtles are stranded on Cape beaches, sick or injured. The NMLC was formed in 1995 to create a treatment facility and began construction of the hospital on Main Street in 2009.

Eventually, the completed hospital will have tanks capable of housing aquatic creatures ranging in size from two-foot-long Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles, considered the smallest of the marine turtle set, to 20-foot-long pilot whales, weighing in at up to three tons, said Kathy Zagzebski, NMLC president and executive director.

She took visitors on a tour of the hospital during the organization’s annual meeting on May 26, starting with the room housing the completed tanks ready for occupancy which will be open for business within the next month or two and ending at the unfinished portion that will be designed for the larger creatures.

“I ask you to close your eyes and use your imagination” to see what will be.

The non-profit NMLC’s fundraising mission is ongoing, for while $3.1 million has gone into the project so far, another $2 million to $3 million will be needed to complete it.

“It’s a tremendous challenge to build,” she said.

Source: Tanks for the National Marine Life Center's efforts - Wareham, MA - Wicked Local Wareham http://www.wickedlocal.com/wareham/archive/x1595579610/Tanks-for-the-National-Marine-Life-Centers-efforts#ixzz1OFQJ97MD

Contact Frank at fmulligan@wickedlocal.com

Copyright 2011 Wicked Local Wareham. Some rights reserved

Red bellied turtles released into Burrage Pond in Hanson

By Alice C. Elwell

Enterprise Correspondent

Posted May 30, 2011

HANSON —

More than 100 parents, children and students joined the Department of Fish and Game to celebrate the year of the turtle and released over 100 red-bellied cooters into the wild on Friday.

“These are gorgeous Northern red bellied cooters,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin.

She said 2011 was declared the year of the turtle by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation to raise awareness about diminishing turtle populations and encourage conservation.

The turtles released at the Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson were the lucky ones who were captured last fall for the “headstart” program, launched in 1980 to restore a dwindling population that bottomed out in the 1970s to about 300 red bellied cooters statewide.

In 1981, the cooter was declared a federally endangered species and a MassWildlife refuge was established for the turtles, said Peter Mirick, wildlife biologist for the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

He said the bullfrog is the most devastating predator to the cooter population and will eat about two a day when the turtles first hatch and are about the size of a quarter.

Headstarted turtles reach the size of a 5-year-old in one winter, “big bruisers” with a hard shell that are ignored by bullfrogs.

The state enlists schools across the region to partner with the headstart program and raise the cooters over the winter.

“Kids are helping save an endangered species in Massachusetts,” Mirick said.

The program has saturated ponds the Plymouth/Career area, Mirick said and finished up stocking the Assawompset Pond system in Middleboro and Lakeville. On Friday the cooters range was expanded to Hanson, “Our next beachhead,” Mirick said.

With 7-week-old Harrison Cuddy harnessed to her chest, Jennifer Jordan of Whitman watched over her son, Zachary Cuddy, as he mulled whether to release a turtle. The shy 4-year-old couldn’t decide if he wanted to pick up one of the squirming cooters.

Bodie Johnson, 5, of Abington, didn’t think twice about picking up a cooter and gently releasing it into the pond.

“I just wanted to,” said the boy.

His sister Aubrie, 1, wasn’t so fearless and clung to her father, Neil Johnson, who brought his children to the release saying, “I’m always trying to get them out in nature.”

Shane McLaughlin, 8 of Bridgewater, turned his attention from the turtles to a water snake that slithered close to shore.

“It’s cool, I’m not afraid of it,” he said.

But his sister Zoe, 6, kept her distance from the snake. She preferred releasing the cooter and said, “He felt soft on the bottom and crawled out of my hand.”

The turtle hunters who make the program possible are John Crane and 11-year-old Connor. The Plymouth natives track the turtles to their nests in late summer. The nests are covered with wire cages once the eggs are laid to protect them from predators. The senior Crane said the cooters’ gender is determined by the weather, a cold summer fosters males, a warm summer females.

The Johnsons keep vigil on about 70 nests until the eggs hatch and then scoop up the hatchlings into baskets and bring them home.

“I’ve have upwards of 1,000 baskets in my living room,” Crane said.

The best are culled from each clutch, notched with identifying marks, photographed and then raised over the winter in classrooms throughout the state. The remaining cooters are returned to the wild and will go dormant over the winter.

Their lucky brethren are kept in warm waters so they don’t go dormant, and fed a nutritious diet to encourage growth. They are the size of 5-year-old wild turtles, by the time they are released and have much better odds of survival.

By spring, the cooters that were once little bigger than a quarter can reach about six inches, and are too big to be gobbled up by their only live predator – bullfrogs.

Once the cooter reaches adulthood, their only predator is the car and state officials encouraged folks to stop if is safe when a turtle is crossing the road and help it to the other side and point it in the direction it was headed.

Copyright 2011 The Patriot Ledger. Some rights reserved

Source: http://www.patriotledger.com/archive/x704496917/Area-residents-help-endangered-species#ixzz1NqNyJKHr

"Turtle Crossing" sign warns drivers

Signs on Sheffield road go up in the springtime

Published : Friday, 27 May 2011 -- Tom Jay

SHEFFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Many communities in Western Massachusetts have signs on roadsides warning drivers of "Deer Crossing," "Turkey Crossing," or "Watch for Wildlife." But in the Southern Berkshire County Town of Sheffield, there's an odd one."Turtle Crossing".

The signs are located on the Berkshire School Road, which runs from Route 7 to Route 41, and is used as a short cut by many drivers going from one side of the town to the other.

There are two locations where the road either goes through a swamp, or runs adjecent to a large pond, and it is at these two locations where you will find "Turtle Crossing" signs.

A check with the Sheffield Police Department learned that these signs are put up only in the spring, apparently when turtles cross the road to lay eggs in the swampy areas.. The the Sheffield Town Administrators office told 22News that the signs were donated to the town ( paid for with private money ) by a concerned citizen who didn't like the idea of the female turtles being "squished" by the oncoming traffic.

The signs are very visible, and after they were donated were put up with the help of the Town highway department .

Source:

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/berkshire/%22Turtle-Crossing%22-sign-warns-drivers

Celebrate Turtles with MassWildlife! -- Hanson/Halifax

Celebrate Turtles with MassWildlife!

Hanson/Halifax

The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW), invites the public to a release of endangered Northern Red-bellied Turtles and "Celebrate Turtles" event from 10 AM - 12 Noon on Friday May 27, 2011 at the DFW's Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area in Hanson/Halifax.

This family-friendly event will provide turtle enthusiasts an opportunity to release "head-started" Red-bellied Northern Cooters, see a broad selection of other live native turtles found here in Massachusetts, learn about the threats to turtles here in Massachusetts from biologists and other turtle enthusiasts. You'll also see how turtles are tracked with telemetry and discover how you can help these ancient creatures.

This is a rain or shine event.

Burrage Pond State Wildlife Management Area

149 Elm St. Halifax, MA

Telephone: 508-759-3406

Directions: From Route 24: Take exit 16A (Route 106 East) Follow Route 106 East for 6.8 miles (Route 106 makes several bends and intersections) Turn Left on Pond St. travel for 0.4 miles. Turn Left onto Washington St for 50 feet. Turn right onto Pond St, travel for 1.8 miles. Turn right onto Elm St. and travel 0.2 miles, entrance to the parking lot will be on your left.

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/wma/southeastwma/burragepondwma.pdf

Why are bog turtles getting sick?

Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society.

Smallest turtle in the land becomes more scarce

Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo veterinarians partner with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to examine recent mortality increase in tiny bog turtles

The Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo veterinarians, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program have joined forces to answer a perplexing wildlife question: Why are bog turtles getting sick?

The dilemma shines a light on North America's smallest turtle; an adult bog turtle reaches only 4.5 inches in length and as many ounces. Wildlife managers working in a few known bog turtle habitats in the Northeast have reported higher than average mortality rates for these threatened reptiles in the past few years.

To determine the cause of the increase in mortality at some sites and identify the baseline health condition at other sites, WCS's Global Health Program—based at the Bronx Zoo—is lending its expertise in wildlife health assessments. WCS health experts have joined federal and state wildlife managers in the field at locations in New York State and Massachusetts.

The bog turtle team is currently locating wild turtles for health assessments to determine these baseline conditions and possibly identify a common cause to explain recent turtle mortality. After conducting a physical exam of individual turtles, health experts will collect a number of samples—blood, feces, cloacal swabs, biopsies—for later analysis.

"We're conducting a broad screening in order to identify a cause or causes for the increase in bog turtle deaths," said Dr. Bonnie Raphael, WCS's Department Head for Wildlife Medicine. "This information will be used to help determine if these recent losses are attributable to infectious disease, environmental perturbations, or other factors."

Although there are no reliable range-wide population estimates for bog turtles, the species is currently protected on state, national, and international levels. The number of known habitats for the threatened northern population of the bog turtle—which has a patchy distribution stretching from Massachusetts to Maryland—is shrinking. The bog turtle is federally listed as "Threatened," and is "Endangered" in New York State and Massachusetts. All international trade in the species is prohibited through CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made bog turtle recovery a priority," said Alison Whitlock, Northeast Region Bog Turtle Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We are working with many partners from state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private landowners to address the threats to this species. Working with the Wildlife Conservation Society to conduct this health assessment addresses one of the recovery objectives, and we are looking forward to continuing this partnership in conservation."

###

WCS has been involved in the study and conservation of bog turtles since 1973. A bog turtle research project conducted by Dr. Whitlock was one of the first conservation initiatives funded by WCS's North America Program in 1995. WCS Global Health Program veterinarians are recognized as experts in turtle health programs in national and international field efforts as well as zoological park based programs and thus are uniquely qualified for this investigation.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/wcs-sti051011.php