The Friends of the Winooski River: Blog

Working together for a clean, healthy, resilient Winooski watershed

 

The Wondrous Wood Turtle

By Taylor Litwin

September 9th, 2024

With a quick search of the Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) you’ll find headlines like: Species in Peril, Wood Turtles Move Towards Endangered Species Act, and Think Your Life is Hard? Try Being a Wood Turtle. Due to a range of threats from human activity, life and survival are, indeed, hard for a wood turtle. Roadkill, habitat fragmentation, agricultural equipment/mowing, degraded water quality, and collection for captivity are the biggest contributors to their rapid decline in the wild. Wood turtles are an ancient species suspected to have lived in Vermont for the last 10,000 years, but despite their long standing survival and resilience, they face a very real threat of extinction ahead. By better understanding their habitat and behavior, we can better understand how to protect them. 

My own introduction to the wood turtle was in the Tupper Lake region of the Adirondacks while learning the basics of turtle tracking using radio-telemetry. This monitoring technique has been used since the 1960’s to track the movement of wildlife and inform habitat use. An animal is tagged with a radio transmitter, which can then be located by a handheld antenna device that picks up its signals, beeping louder as the antenna and transmitter move closer to each other. 

Using this method, I learned how to keep a close eye on one particular wood turtle to better understand its habitat. This turtle was most often tracked to the edge of a streamside meadow, using the dense clusters of vegetation as protection from predators. Wood turtles are habitat generalists when on land, so they can venture into meadows, farm fields, and even forested areas, so long as they are close to their home stream. No matter the setting, wood turtles tend to follow this pattern of finding microhabitats to hide from predators in. The home range of a wood turtle varies greatly, from 25-50 acres, however, the majority of their life is occupied within about 300 feet of a stream– and preferably a meandering one! Streams with sharp twists and turns that form prominent sand and gravel bars serve as ideal nesting sites for wood turtles.

As we all hunker down for winter on land, wood turtles slip into their home stream or river to brumate underwater from November through April. Brumation in reptiles is similar to hibernation in mammals, except it involves periods of activity, as opposed to the deep sleep of hibernation. Wood turtles choose rivers or streams for brumation rather than ponds or lakes due to the continuous supply of dissolved oxygen which they absorb through their skin to stay alive. Standing bodies of water are prone to oxygen depletion mid-winter, whereas a continuous current in a healthy stream provides enough oxygen for these fascinating animals to overwinter. Rather than bury themselves in the muck at the bed of a waterbody, like snapping turtles or painted turtles, wood turtles rest atop the mud, in pools at the bottom of rivers and streams. They often find logs or leaf packs to rest in so they are protected from harsh currents. So, with these specific conditions needed and all of this crucial habitat surrounding us, what can we do to protect wood turtles here in the Winooski River Watershed? 

Friends of the Winooski is taking a larger scale approach to helping turtles, fish, salamanders, and other aquatic organisms move throughout our watershed– by removing dams! 

Dam removal efforts are crucial in protecting aquatic organisms through increasing habitat connectivity. This is a popular conservation tactic for fish populations, as dams can hinder fish migration and decrease their reproductive success. However, dam removals are beneficial for entire river ecosystems, including the wondrous wood turtle! Increased habitat quality after dam removal has been known to benefit a variety of aquatic species. This is especially important for wood turtles, as they need healthy river ecosystems that meander freely to provide ideal conditions for their nesting sites. In turn, these resilient rivers act as safe habitats for baby wood turtles, as they stay near streams in early stages of life. Some studies have even found that dams can negatively impact dissolved oxygen concentrations upstream, potentially harming the overwintering success of wood turtles. In order to protect this endangered species, we are prioritizing dam removal efforts locally in hopes of restoring wood turtle habitat to its natural glory!

Here are a few ideas, thanks to Vermont Fish and Wildlife:

  • Maintain natural vegetation along waterways
  • If mowing May-September set the mowing blade to 5 inches
  • If possible, avoid mowing meadows until late September
  • Encourage friends, family, and neighbors to protect stream corridors
  • Report collection of turtles to your local game warden
  • Report unauthorized stream alterations to the Agency of Natural Resources
  • Teach children to respect wildlife. Leave wildlife in the wild
  • Route recreation paths away from streams, never along the channel
  • Promote town plans and ordinances that protect naturally vegetated stream corridors and discourage stream alterations
  • Contribute to the Nongame Wildlife Fund on your Vermont income tax form
  • Display a Vermont Conservation Plate on your car - and watch out for turtles crossing the road!

Interested in volunteer opportunities to help protect the wood turtle and other species of concern? The Orianne Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of reptiles, amphibians and the ecosystems they inhabit. By following this link you can volunteer to conduct species surveys, write citizen science reports, and restore habitat in Vermont. 

For events relating to woodland habitat, the Vermont Woodland Society hosts walks, talks, and webinars to educate the community about the many ways that forest and woodland management can protect wildlife.