Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2018, Issue 153 | Page 10
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N ATUR A L L A NDS
first year of life—quite high for tur-
tles. Using those rates of reproduc-
tion and survival, the researchers
then estimated how a population
would fare with various starting
numbers of turtles. They found that
a total population of about 40, with
as few as 15 breeding females, had
a more than 90 percent probability
of persisting for 100 years provided
they had access to one another for
genetic diversity.
Said Kevin Shoemaker, who led
the study, “These very small units
are very, very important for conser-
vation. We don’t want to discount
very small populations just because
they’re so small.”
So if the survival of bog turtles
comes down to these small pockets
of just a few individuals, protection
of these locations is essential. And
95 percent of known bog turtle sites
are owned by private landowners.
Fortunately, the Natural Resourc-
es Conservation Service (NRCS),
administered by the US Department
of Agriculture, offers incentives
to private landowners, including
farmers, to both protect and restore
bog turtle habitat. Natural Lands
has received more than $12,000
from NRCS to underwrite the cost of
improving wetland areas on several
of our preserves.
“The program has been a real help
for us, especially on the preserves
that don’t have endowment to fund
major work,” shares Gary Gimbert,
Natural Lands’ regional director of
land stewardship and restoration
coordinator. “We’ve been able to
concentrate efforts to remove red
maple and other woody plants that
create a canopy over the habitat.
And the funding from NRCS has
allowed us to have staff do the
time-consuming task by hand since
we can’t bring heavy equipment into
the habitat.”
For landowners who are perhaps
not as motivated by conservation
for conservation’s sake, the NRCS
funding program can mean the
difference between the land being
saved or developed. NRCS pays
farmers to put their land under ease-
ment, which takes the properties
out of agricultural production and
prevents future development. They
then work with the landowners to
restore wetlands, paying for the cost
of improvements including, in some
cases, fencing so that cattle and
goats can graze, which helps control
invasives and keep woody plants
and trees from growing.
At one study site in upstate New
York, researchers tracked bog tur-
tles over the course of five years at
a pasture routinely grazed by cattle.
They found that the turtles virtually
trailed the cows, following in their
soggy hoof prints. When given the
choice, nesting turtles selected
the cattle-disturbed areas over
wetlands that were off-limits to the
cows. Herpetologists theorize that
cattle are ecological replacements
for large, wild herbivores that once
grazed wetlands in eastern North
America, like eastern wood bison
and elk.
This controlled grazing technique
has been used in Delaware, Mary-
land, New Jersey, North Carolina,
and Pennsylvania, too. Some
landowners rely on cows, but others
have used goats. In Delaware and
New Jersey, bog turtles have made
homes in the ponderous path of
visiting water buffalo.
Restoration grazing has even
spawned niche entrepreneurial op-
portunities for beef cattle and goat
farmers, who have found a profitable
way to fatten their livestock for
market.
The conservation efforts to
protect one struggling species are
proving to be a win all around. Good
for livestock, good for farmers, good
for bog turtles.
And good for us humans, too.
“Bog turtles are a flagship species
for wetland conservation and water
quality, and are a part of our rural
and agricultural heritage,” said Lori
Erb of MACHAC. “The streams and
rivers that we utilize for drinking
water and for recreation begin in
headwater bog turtle wetlands.
People from all walks of life, from
trout fisherman to those that simply
prefer drinking clean water, should
be advocates for this species and
efforts to save them.” W
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needles in a haystack.
The estimated number of remaining bog turtles ranges from 3,000 to
6,000. Part of the challenge in determining their numbers lies in how
challenging they are to find and count.
(Of course, their elusive habits may aid in their survival when it
comes to poachers!)
On a warm day in May, experts from MACHAC joined Natural
Lands’ staff at one of our preserves to search the wetlands for these
tiny turtles.
Wearing waders and carrying long poles, the team worked its way
through the mud, gently probing the ground with the poles and, at
times, dropping to all fours to search for tunnels in the mud where
bog turtles like to hide.
If found, turtles are weighed, measured, and sometimes tagged or
notched. They are then returned to the precise spot they were found.
Surveying suspected bog turtle sites is a tedious and time-con-
suming process that all too often results in only a few turtles, if any.
But it’s an essential part of the conservation process.
And a great excuse for adults to muck around in the mud!
Bog turtles require open, sunny,
spring-fed wetlands with scattered
dry areas, and can be an indicator of
water quality and wetland function.