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Titel: TWEAN (Syracuse, New York) ; Species threatened by proposed development project Bericht door: schildpaddennetcrew op 4 Juli 2008, 17:17:50 TWEAN (Syracuse, New York) 15 April 06 Species threatened by proposed development project (Cait McVey)
Glenn Johnson has been researching turtles in the North Country for almost decade. His focus has been on the Blanding's turtle, a threatened species in this region. Johnson said, "What we do is catch them in traps, we put radio transmitters on them and then we can track all their movements." The Blanding's turtle is a rare find, but when you see one, you'll know. Johnson said it's distinctly different from the more common snapping or painted turtle. "You can see some differences on the face. This one has light striping, and this one has the chin that's yellowish," explained Johnson. Most of Johnson's research has been in the Lisbon area, where a small population of the Blanding's turtle was discovered back in 1998. But in the past three years, two of the turtles have been discovered along Route 11 in Potsdam. And Johnson believes their habitat includes property set for a future Super Wal-mart. He said, "It's a wetland that kind of encircles to the south, east and west of where the proposed Wal-mart is, with Route 11 on the North." Johnson plans to take his findings to the Department of Environmental Conservation. And while he says the chances of stopping Wal-mart from coming to town are slim, he hopes the presence of a threatened species will at least affect the store's design. http://news10now.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=64175 |