Endangered Wood Turtles Focus Of Protection Effort In MA

MERRIMACK VALLEY, MA — MassWildlife and Zoo New England have launched a three-year project focused on the conservation of wood turtles. Once common in most of the Merrimack River Valley, wood turtle populations have declined to the point that they are protected under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Populations closest to Boston have experienced major declines in population as residential developments have increased.

A few populations of wood turtles still persist. They are small and isolated, and in need of focused and sustained management efforts to thrive, according to wildlife officials. Working with Zoo New England provides a timely opportunity to understand and implement the most pressing management needs for wood turtles in eastern Massachusetts, MassWildlife said.

Steps involved in this wood turtle project include searching stream habitats to find wood turtles, tracking movement patterns and habitat use with radio telemetry, and identifying unoccupied areas where wood turtles might successfully establish populations in northeastern Massachusetts. Hatchling wood turtles will be head-started, outfitted with tracking devices, and released in areas where they hatched or in a nearby, suitable reintroduction site.

The wood turtle is so named because its carapace, or top shell, looks like carved wood. These medium-sized turtles grow to about 6–8 inches in length and are found in small populations throughout stream habitats in Massachusetts. Though few hatchlings survive to adulthood, once wood turtles reach maturity they can to live to more than 70 years.

As adults, wood turtles have few predators but are vulnerable to road casualties, forestry and agricultural activities, stream bank development, and pesticide and heavy metal pollution in waterways.