NEWS JOURNAL ; Modern-day tale of David and Goliath

NEWS JOURNAL (Middletown, Deleware) 15 February 06 Modern-day tale of David and Goliath - On the mind-boggling trail of the little turtle that delayed mighty DelDot's work on U.S. 301 (Al Kemp)
The bog turtle is a small reptile that spends most of its life hiding in the mud. It emerges long enough to mate and sun itself, then back to the mud it goes. Slowly, of course.
One would suppose the bog turtle models its habits after certain U.S. senators, but that would be selling the bog turtle short.
The bog turtle intends harm to no man, not even DelDOT engineers who may want to pave over its habitat.
While DelDOT awaits expert advice about whether the planned U.S. 301 routes go through actual bog turtle country, there are things you should know:
The bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) is designated a threatened species because people have destroyed much of its habitat.
The creature is caught in the crosshairs of a larger conflict between convenience and conservation going on nationwide. But the turtles have friends in high places. Well, higher than the bog anyway.
Their friends are the certified bog turtle surveyors. They're naturalists and other woodsy folks trained to recognize and evaluate bog turtle habitats. They catch the turtles, photograph them and release them.
Bog turtle habitat looks to an amateur's eye like an ordinary freshwater swamp, but these turtles require a specific mix of water, soil and vegetation before they'll even think about moving in.
According to turtle surveyors, these creatures' only ambition is to mate, zone out and eat slugs, snails and slimy things you don't even want to know about.
They need deep mud in which to burrow, said James White, associate director of land and biodiversity management at the Delaware Nature Society.
White is a certified bog turtle surveyor. He and his wife run a side business in bog turtle surveying.
Wildlife biologist Holly Niederriter is the go-to person in the bog-turtle arena at Delaware's Division of Fish & Wildlife.
When she talks about research methods, you can tell she's spent her share of time in bogs.
She typically starts with a "binocular scan" of the marsh, and then moves to what many turtle surveyors call a "rapid assessment," where she tries to sneak up and grab the turtles. This is harder than it sounds when you're wading through 2 feet of mud.
"We also do something called 'muddling' where we get down on our hands and knees and feel around," Niederriter said.
Another technique, said White, is probing the mud with a long stick.
"You take a broomstick and gently stick it down there. You may hit a turtle. It may be a snapping turtle, and it may be a bog turtle."
Certified bog turtle surveyor Matt Bailey has been poking around marshes with sticks for years.
In early February he was inspecting some potential bog turtle habitat as an independent contractor for the Natural Heritage Program at a site in New Castle County.
As he approached a pool of water at the foot of a rocky hill, a squishy carpet of grasses undulated beneath his feet.
With clipboard in hand and thigh-high waders on his legs, Bailey was in his element. He made sounds of triumph when half of one leg disappeared in the muck.
"This kind of thing is what a bog turtle person salivates about," he reported.
Bailey deemed the habitat ideal for bog turtles. It even smelled boggy.
If developments such as the 301 project displace and eventually wipe out the bog turtle and other species, Bailey said, the balance in the food chain could shift, with consequences that can't be predicted.
A different reptile might take the turtles' place. An invasive plant species may take over. Each event caused by a species' absence would reverberate through the vast web of life on Earth.
"Imagine the Sistine Chapel with just one or two figures on the ceiling," Bailey said.
"Protection of one species' habitat will benefit all the other creatures that use that habitat," he said.
"You could make an argument that the bog turtle is an umbrella species for humans. By protecting them we may save ourselves."
By now you may be wondering: Is a world without bog turtles really a world worth living in?
"Hopefully we'll never find out," said Bailey. "That's my goal."
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