State says spotted turtles not threatened (Rich Eldred)

UPPER CAPE CODDER (Sandwich, Massachusetts) 15 June 06 State says spotted turtles not threatened (Rich Eldred)

They’ll still have their shell but spotted turtles have lost one layer of protection.
They’ve been taken off the state list of species of special concern. On May 23, the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife voted 5-0 with one abstention and one absentee to remove the spotted turtle and seven other animals, along with three plants, from the list of special concern, threatened or endangered species.
“This is spotted turtle country,” notes Bob Prescott of the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. “The Cape Cod Mall is built on what used to be a red maple swamp where spotted turtles lived. There was no Wetlands Protection Act then.”
Mass Audubon opposed the de-listing, as did numerous herpetologists and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. But once the turtle became a special concern and people began looking for it when developments were proposed, spotted turtles were found all around the state.
When the spotted turtle was first listed in 1986 it was known to be in 24 locations. Today there are 954 known records. Last year alone, the spotted turtle was a factor in 281 environmental reviews. In 2002 a multi-million dollar golf course proposed in Hopkinton was stopped when seven spotted turtles were found. Its presence has added costs to major projects in Weymouth, Holbrook, Natick and elsewhere.
Since 2002 there have been 296 new records of the species and it is known in 256 of the commonwealth’s 351 towns. It is absent mainly from the high (1,500 feet) elevations of the Berkshires.
The reasons
The proposal to remove the turtle from the list, put forth by Thomas French of the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, notes that the numbers of documented individuals (2,299) and likely actual number, “far exceeds the number of individuals that would qualify a species for Special Concern listing.”
But there are caveats.
“We did oppose the de-listing because we didn’t think there was adequate scientific justification for it given the biology of the animals,” says Heidi Ricci, senior policy specialist at the Massachusetts Audubon Society. “We don’t know the status of the population.”
The prime threat related to development is road mortality. The turtles may cross roads in order to lay their eggs and they are known to wander.
“They live in a wide variety of wetlands,” Ricci notes. “They will also travel quite a distance to other mating sites or vernal pools. They don’t begin breeding until they are seven to 10 years of age and they can live up to 100 years. So to reproduce they need to live many decades. Even a 1 percent increase in mortality can cause the population to spiral down.”
The size of the average spotted turtle egg clutch is just four eggs — far less than the 16 to 59 laid by a snapping turtle or even the seven laid by the painted turtle.
Of greater concern is the size of the turtle populations. While the turtle is widespread, it is never abundant.
“It’s a risk, it’s a guess,” Ricci says of the de-listing. “There are a lot more accounts of instances of them, but we don’t know if those are records of viable populations or individuals. More people have been looking for them.”
In their draft for a conservation strategy for the spotted turtle, the state set out a plan.
“The Division of Fish and Wildlife target for the species was to have at least 50 sites of 200 individuals each,” Ricci says. “But most sites are under 12 individuals. There are several instances in Cape Cod where a pretty intensive search was done over a period of years and no more than a handful or 20 individuals were found.”
Those searches were done in Cape Cod National Seashore. A mark/recapture study produced 118 records of 50 individuals from 12 sites. There were only two sites with more than 17 individuals.
Another lengthy (1999-2004) sampling at 76 Cape Cod sites netted 1,183 painted turtles, 218 snapping turtles, 39 spotted turtles and 22 musk turtles. Spotted turtles appeared at only 8 percent of the sites compared to painted turtles at 65 percent.
“The presence of significant blocks of spotted turtle habitat does not equate to significant numbers of spotted turtles,” biologist Bob Cook wrote in a private communication to the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Where they are
While the target is for 50 populations of 200 turtles, there are no known such populations in the state. In fact, 88 percent of the records are for populations of five or less known individuals.
“That suggests the probability of extinction is real, given continued habitat loss and human population growth,” Cook wrote.
“What the state is afraid of is when something is designated spotted turtle habitat that developers will sue the state saying it is a ‘taking,’” Prescott ventures.
The spotted turtle has largely disappeared from urban locals, although it is found in a pond in Boston. The de-listing proposal notes its presence next to New Bedford Airport and Route 53 but the largest populations are on protected land such as the Hocomock Swamp in Bridgewater.
“Most of that is under the protection of the Division of Fish and Wildlife but the turtles aren’t secure there,” Ricci notes. “There are reports of them being run over by all terrain vehicles that are operating illegally.”
Another turtle was run over in the Province Lands in 1998.
“Development also has other risks,” notes Ricci. “One is over-collection. It is still illegal to possess spotted turtles in Massachusetts.”
Spotted turtles were once caught for the aquarium trade and recently 11 were sold to a pet store in Bridgewater.
Southeastern Massachusetts and Nantucket is its stronghold. Shallow waters, swamps, meadows, bogs, vernal pools are preferred habitat. They’ll also spend time foraging in nearby vegetation.
“They really like red maple swamps,” Prescott notes. “And cranberry bogs, that’s where you used to see them.”
The DFW speculates it’s still the second most common species in Plymouth and Bristol counties. Approximately 23 percent of the turtle’s habitat is protected while an additional 15 percent falls under the Wetlands Protection Act.
The turtles among us
A five-year sampling at 76 Cape Cod sites netted 1,183 painted turtles, 218 snapping turtles, 39 spotted turtles and 22 musk turtles.
Spotted turtles appeared at only 8 percent of the sites compared to painted turtles at 65 percent.

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