Blanding's Turtles Released Into Wild By Forest Preserve

WILL COUNTY, IL — Thirty-seven Blanding's turtles raised in captivity by the Forest Preserve District of Will County are now swimming freely in the wild. The turtles were transported from an indoor Will County forest preserve site to an undisclosed location in DuPage County.

The preserve said a trio of turtle wranglers wearing chest-high waders braved the muck of a soupy marsh to set the turtles gently into the water so they could paddle away to freedom.

“We just slowly place each individual turtle out and spread them out some so they’re not concentrated or too close,” said Dan Thompson, an ecologist for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, who coordinated the release.

The preserve said this batch of Blanding’s turtles was the first one raised by the Forest Preserve District of Will County, which joined a regional Blanding’s turtle recovery program in 2017 to help save the state-endangered species.

Before their release, the turtles were first microchipped and the marginal scutes, or bony plates, near the edge of the turtles’ shells were notched with files to make sure each turtle logged into the program and can be identified later. The preserve said the microchips and the notching will help identify turtles during annual trapping efforts that are designed to see if the species is rebounding.

The notches also might save the turtles’ lives because the shell markings will make the turtles less desirable to poachers, Thompson said.

The microchips correspond with the painted number on each turtle’s back, which will fade with time. And photos are taken of the underside of each turtle, which is called the plasteron, because that too can help ID individuals.

The preserve said Blanding’s turtles are in trouble because they need a larger habitat to survive, they lay fewer eggs than other turtle species, their habitat continues to decline, poachers nab them, cars hit them and predators feast on eggs and newborn turtles.

While in captivity at a Forest Preserve District of Will County location, the preserve said the turtles were tracked for growth and health. Some didn’t make it to release day and others didn’t grow as quickly as they should have, said Chris Gutmann, the Forest Preserve's facility supervisor who oversaw the turtle program.

“We took regular measurements and checked their growth to see if any of turtles were plateauing or losing weight,” he said. “Basically, we were tracking their development and what they ate.”

Food was an issue for some of the turtles.

“They’re surprisingly particular,” he said of the Will County crop of Blanding’s turtles. “Some liked thawed frozen fish and shrimp. They loved crayfish. We keyed in on what they liked. We tried to get them on prepared turtle diets too, and we found they grow quickest when we could get that in their diet, but not all of them accepted it.”

Some grew so fast that they were released early. But the bulk of the turtle batch was set loose in the marsh in May.

“We hope we did enough for as many of them as possible,” Gutmann said of the hatchlings. “It has been a learning experience. We’re going to take the summer to review our data and share what we learned and hopefully get together with DuPage County and some of the other partners and see what worked best.”

The Forest Preserve District of Will County is anticipating another batch of hatchlings in late summer or early fall.