Working with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources ecologists and US Fish & Wildlife Service we assisted with a project to learn more about one of our most precious local wildlife species, the bog turtle. On this survey in Cecil County we searched for turtles in their fen wetland habitat both by using radio telemetry for animals already outfitted with transmitters and by strategically digging through muddy soil and dense vegetation to find additional turtles. The hope is to add to the sampling that will be monitored throughout the winter to better understand where they hibernate and how they utilize this site. While these folks might make it look easy, and no doubt enjoy themselves given the purpose, this is hard, tireless work that leaves researchers hot, saturated in mud, often bitten by insects, and covered in small cuts from the vegetation. Many times, even at a known site, no turtles are discovered during a survey on a given day. This species is adept at hiding and its required habitat is certainly challenging to search.
The bog turtle is not only special because it is the smallest turtle in North America but it is a habitat specialist, only using these types of bog and fen habitats that have themselves become rare. This species is considered globally rare and listed as threatened under the federal endangered species act. Its populations are highly fragmented and scattered across the northeast and down south just east the Appalachians to Georgia. In Maryland they are found in just four counties- Carroll, Baltimore, Harford and Cecil.
The causes for decline stem mostly from human caused changes to our landscape. Many of their wetlands were destroyed, drained or altered to serve agricultural uses or to allow for development, and those that remain are often degraded to the point where turtles can no longer thrive there. With the lack of large grazing animals like bison and elk as well as reduction of natural wildfires, many sites become overtaken by woody vegetation and invasive species of plants that change the hydrology and prevent the sun exposure that turtles need for basking and incubating their nests. There is also the threat of disease and predation of their nests by mammalian predators.
Due to their rarity this species is a target for poachers who illegally attempt to sell them on the black market. This is why we keep locations confidential and only carefully vetted folks are allowed to assist with these projects. We are thankful for the hard work of our state and federal scientists that continue to study these animals so that we may better learn their needs and assess their status as well as conservation officers who protect our most precious resources from those seeking to harm or profit from them.
