YORK WEEKLY (York, Maine) Brake for turtles - they need our help (Sue Pike)

YORK WEEKLY (York, Maine) 10 May 06 Brake for turtles - they need our help (Sue Pike)
Driving home from the beach along Long Sands Road I encountered my first turtle of the season. Sadly, it was a squashed young snapping turtle, run over by a car while trying to cross a road, the fate of many turtles worldwide.
This little snapper was only six inches long, a relative youngster, not yet old enough to reproduce, looking forward to another 60 or 70 years of life. My second turtle encounter of the day was with a painted turtle, once again crossing a road. To help it avoid the fate of the snapping turtle, I stopped my car, turned on the flashers and helped the turtle cross the road.
Turtles have been on earth for millions of years. They have survived ice ages and dinosaurs. The question is, can they survive humans? Of the 10 species of turtle occurring in Maine, all, except for the snapping and painted turtles, are listed as threatened, endangered, or of special concern, meaning that their populations are dwindling, on the road to extinction if protective measures aren’t taken.
We, who live in this area, must take responsibility for this decline; the pet trade, habitat destruction, and run-ins with cars are driving these species to extinction.
If you’d like to learn more about local turtles, the Mount Agamenticus Conservation Program is hosting a seminar about turtles on Saturday, May 20 at 12:30 p.m. at the Mount Agamenticus Lodge. The seminar is part of a volunteer-driven project funded by the Maine Department of Transportation, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and The Nature Conservancy.
Besides learning about local turtles, you can also sign up to monitor local roads for evidence of turtle crossings from May through early July.
"This is the period when turtle migration is at its peak," said Robin Stanley, coordinator for the program. "Turtles are crossing many roads during their journey to various feeding and breeding grounds in low lying wetlands and vernal pools.
"In addition to this, female turtles are again crossing roads traveling to upland nest sites to lay their eggs ... People also need to remember to not take or move turtles to a different location (in an attempt to rescue turtles found along roads). If it is safe to do so, it’s OK to assist turtles off the road in the direction that it was headed (otherwise, it will attempt to cross again anyway).
"If it is a snapper - then you may want to direct traffic around it, again, if it is safe to do so, rather than pick it up. Some have suggested getting a large stick, have the snapper bite it, and then drag it across, but I’d rather not get that close, and have not been in that much of a rush, so have just waited for them to cross."
For information, to register for the workshop, or to report turtle road sightings, you can contact Robin Stanley at 361-1102 or rstanley@tnc.org.
The final turtle encounter I’d like to relate happened a few years ago. We found a Blanding’s turtle crossing our lawn to reach a nearby vernal pool. I had to check a field guide to identify it, having never heard of a Blanding’s turtle. The best field identification characteristic of this turtle is its bright yellow neck and throat. Since Blanding’s turtles are on the Endangered list in Maine, I called the local state turtle researcher, Jamie Haskins, to report the sighting and find out more about these turtles.
The future, according to Jamie, of this particular turtle is bleak. Research indicates that there are just scattered remnant populations of Blanding’s turtles east of I-95 and that this individual would most likely never reproduce.
Since there are so few of its kindred left in this area, it will probably never encounter another Blanding’s turtle in its lifetime. Let us hope that current conservation efforts will prevent this from becoming the fate of Maine’s remaining turtle population.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/yorkweekly/05102006/arts/102075.htm