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Last year I set out to make a short educational film on one of my favorite species, the wood turtle. A seemingly simple task for me since I knew a lot about them, enjoy their habitat, and turtles make for charming subjects. Many mentors throughout my education have unanimously taught that some of the most successful projects for a writer, artist, or filmmaker are those that involve something you know and love. What I didn’t take into account was that such an endeavor can bring with it realizations about oneself and the subject matter that were not previously considered. Immersion in a quest to find something of the natural world takes its toll on a filmmaker because unlike man-made creations, you have little or no control over your subject matter. The once casual observer has to quickly evolve into a modern day explorer. An informational video had unintentionally transformed into a cry for conservation and a look at the quiet unseen decline of species right before our eyes.
I felt that this realization was too important to glaze over and decided to incorporate the search into my film. I wanted to visually create a way to show the juxtaposition between the altered landscape and that of my youth. To do this I sought out a great group of kids that helped me illustrate a flashback to those times by having them act as if they were my friends and I going down to the local creek as many of us did any chance we could before the television and video game age had fully taken hold of our culture. Together they find a wood turtle and examine it with that childhood wonder that many of us now jaded adults have lost. The viewer then experiences the evolution of the landscape as I drive back to a simulated version of the same creek that has seen human influence. I complete the sequence with the “last wood turtle” making its horrific final journey to the roadway.
The wood turtle is one that, while still found in a few areas throughout Maryland, is only in isolated pockets. Further into its range is much of the same story as many of areas in New England and areas surrounding the Great Lakes have seen similar development into natural areas. Many of the formerly known “good” populations have been declining or disappeared because of road mortality, habitat destruction, and perhaps even more unfortunately, because of illegal poaching for the pet trade. It is a prime example of a long lived animal where one individual can survive for decades and when found, gives us a false sense that they are numerous and widespread.
The hope is that the film may shed light on an amazing species that many know little about and help viewers remember that time of innocence that so many of us have since forgotten.
From the film, “We cannot change the past but we can pave a new road into the future. If we protect species such as the wood turtle while there is still time, rather than once it is too late as has been the case with so many, we can ensure a future for both ourselves and the natural world around us. If we invest in our native species while they are still here we may be able to reverse some of the damage we have caused. If we fund and dedicate research so we can better understand the causes of decline and needs of species like the wood turtle, we will know how we can save them. These are critical times where the right amount of positive energy in the right direction can help us gain the knowledge and actions we can together use to help species like the wood turtle no longer be adrift without a home in our fragmented world.”
