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From invasive weeds to floods, forest turtles are at risk in Vermont
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From invasive weeds to floods, forest turtles are at risk in Vermont

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During Spiny softshell turtles are under threat in Vermont and Spotted turtles are endangeredForest turtles may soon be threatened in the state due to land use change. That’s why the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is monitoring the species closely before more serious intervention is needed.

The wood turtle, a medium-sized reptile native to Vermont, is known for its striking orange coloration, which creates a unique, easily recognizable pattern on its neck and the inside of its legs. This also caused demand to increase. Wild-caught turtles are on the international black market.

But that’s not the only threat to these reptiles. Invasive species such as Japanese knotweed pose a major danger because they encroach on sand and gravel piles where wood turtles would typically lay eggs. Moreover, Repeated flooding in Vermont caused egg suffocation and could seriously impact local populations as the species has low reproductive rates.

These threats are the ministry’s wood turtles The species that needs the most protection in Vermont.

On Tuesday afternoon, two wildlife technicians waded through cool, bubbling streams and crossed muddy river banks in central Vermont to conduct one of the last wood turtle surveys of the season.

Kiley Briggs, conservation manager Orianne CommunityMolly Parren, a turtle technician with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting and restoring habitat for rare reptiles and amphibians, stepped out of the pickup to put on her wellies and boots. Briggs retrieved his antenna and radio telemetry from the truck.

“With radio telemetry, we (first) attach a small transmitter to the turtle,” Briggs said. “The transmitter sends out a radio signal that basically makes a beeping sound, and then we use an antenna and receiver to determine which direction the beep is coming from, and then we follow it until we find where the turtle is.”

Kiley Briggs and Molly Parren locate a wood turtle using radio telemetry. Photo: Klara Bauters/VTDigger

Briggs is collecting baseline data, which is preliminary data that allows biologists to determine where hotspots for turtles are and their populations in those places.

Briggs said Vermont’s streams provide ample habitat for forest turtles, but their ability to nest and grow populations is becoming increasingly difficult. As the invasive Japanese knotweed spreads, female turtles are forced to travel farther to find suitable nesting sites, further jeopardizing the survival of the species.

“We only take turtles that are 40-50 years old and none of them are in their 20s. This tells us: ‘There’s a problem on this site that needs to be solved,'” Briggs said.

Because of the longevity of forest turtles (some can exceed 80 years of age), their low reproductive rate, and their slow maturation, their populations are vulnerable to any threats that kill adults or remove them from the population.

“They only start laying eggs at age 20, which results in the population taking a long time to replenish,” Briggs said.

Briggs said wood turtles spend time in water and on land, but prefer to nest in river valleys; These valleys are also the best places to farm and the easiest places to build roads. When forest turtles spend time on land, they can be killed by tractors or run over by cars.

“Cars are a problem for all our turtles, especially wood turtles, and I’ve lost turtles that got run over by farm equipment,” Briggs said. According to the Orianne Society, in some cases, the loss of just one or two forest turtles per year due to human reasons can lead to significant population decline or extinction.

But protecting wood turtle habitat can benefit landowners. Federal programs in the U.S. Farm Bill offer financial assistance to landowners and farmers who create riparian buffers.

Wearing polarized glasses and carrying the antenna in knee-deep water, Briggs found a turtle after wading along a stream. He was below the river bank, too far away to be caught, so he walked farther. More than an hour later, after crossing the river two more times, Briggs found a new wood turtle in the stream that he had not yet marked.

Both Parren and Briggs were excited to find a new, seemingly young turtle and immediately began recording their data, including weight and length, on an online form on Briggs’ phone.

“In wood turtles, in males, the lower part of the shell is concave, this is a male characteristic. Like the females, the bottom of the shell is flat, Briggs said. “By age, we can count the growth rings on their bark, like counting the rings of a tree.”

The newly discovered turtle was approximately 15 years old. Forest turtles grow during the first 15-20 years of their lives, but they can live up to 50-70 years. As they age, their shells gradually wear away and become smoother; this is a feature biologists use to estimate their age. According to Briggs, the lighter yellow texture in the center of this turtle’s shell indicates that it is still growing.

“It is rare to see a new turtle hatchling in this area,” he said, as the area is subject to heavy flooding during the summer months. “Our biggest concern right now is that if we have frequent summer flooding over many years, it could be too much flooding for the population to survive.”

But in an area where the dam causes frequent summer flooding, nearly all of the turtles choose to lay their eggs in upland habitats safely away from the river, Briggs said.

“I wonder if they respond,” Briggs said. “The turtles know the area is under a lot of water, but that’s my interpretation of their behavior there.”