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TURTLE CROSSINGS

June heralds the peak of activity when normally-aquatic Snapping, Painted, Spotted, Red-bellied, Blandings, 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, which normally offset low reproductive success rates with long reproductive life spans. When adult life spans are cut short it limits recruitment of young wild turtles 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 to residential-area predators such as skunks, foxes, and raccoons.

What can an individual or groups do? Citizens can assist turtles attempting to move to and from nesting areas by helping them across roadways. While this act should not 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 it is 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 one hand on the underside of the animal to support their weight, while Painted, Spotted, and other turtle species can be safely grasped by the sides of the shell. For more useful turtle conservation tips and turtle FAQs, go to http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/conservation/herps/turtle_tips.htm.

On a landscape scale, large tracts of habitat need to be protected to ensure the viability of Massachusetts native turtles. The Division of Fisheries & Wildlifes (MassWildlife) BioMap and Living Waters Map, both created by the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program with funding from the then-Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (now the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs), identify such tracts on a statewide map, creating a greenprint for the conservation of biodiversity. State, local, and private conservation agencies and organizations embrace the BioMap and Living Waters Map to guide habitat protection efforts. The effort to adopt Green Certification standards by state environmental agencies for sustainable forest management also helps to ensure that care is taken to conserve rare species during the planning and implementation of timber sales on state-owned forest lands.

Encounters with rare, state-protected turtles such as Box, Wood, Spotted, Red-bellied, Bog, or Blandings should be reported to MassWildlife with photo and map documentation. To report a rare turtle species, visit the MassWildlife website in the Natural Heritage area at http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/species_info/report_rare_species.htm.