Tag: Bog Turtles

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey is pleased to announce that it was recently awarded two grants by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through its Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund (DWCF). The multi-year grants are Assessing American Oystercatchers to Inform Management and Restoration Strategies and Rare Turtle Research and Monitoring in the Southern Delaware River Basin.

The new American oystercatcher grant is a continuation of a similar current DWCF grant, the added years will allow for more comprehensive research and monitoring of oystercatchers on New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore to help us determine long-term breeding trends. We will also continue to assess oystercatcher habitat use, including the development of Best Management Practices to facilitate habitat restoration on the Bayshore. New research under the expanded funding includes foraging and chick provisioning studies, as well as more banding and use of GPS transmitters to enhance tracking of oystercatcher movements within the Bayshore and beyond.

The turtle grant will allow for trapping, and telemetry surveys for bog and spotted turtles to be conducted at understudied and historically occupied New Jersey focal sites in the southern Delaware River basin. This project aims to provide the state with updated population demographics and landscape data for the region, in particular to direct and expedite future restoration and management activities. Restoration can then proceed at the highest priority sites to ensure inhabited wetlands retain all the landscape features necessary to sustain rare turtle populations.

The DWCF, created in 2018, is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to achieve the goals of the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act. The Act guides and supports federal, state, regional, and local partners to collaboratively identify, prioritize, and implement habitat restoration and conservation activities within the watershed.

by: Meaghan Fogarty, Conserve Wildlife Foundation Intern

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Note: For the health and safety of our staff, volunteers and the communities where we work, CWF staff and volunteers are practicing social distancing and following all state and CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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Two days before Governor Murphy announced the statewide stay-at-home order, the first day of spring had sprung. Human life came to a screeching halt, but the natural world nevertheless began its annual transition towards warmer weather, longer days, and new life.

Continue reading “Looking for the shy bog turtle”

Coalition of Agencies Working Together to Enhance Turtle Habitat in Sussex County

by Kelly Triece, Biologist

Through federal partnerships and incentive programs, the federally endangered bog turtle can have a fighting chance in New Jersey! The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation, New Jersey Audubon Society, and Wallkill River Watershed Management Group, are currently working to restore a once natural wetland on private property in Sussex County. The program is possible through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Wetlands Reserve Easement (WRE). WRE is a voluntary program that provides an opportunity for landowners to receive financial assistance in exchange for permanently protecting retired agricultural land. In their first year, NRCS and USFWS helped to restore and protect 52 acres of bog turtle habitat in New Jersey!

 

The goal of this project is to restore hydrology, enhance bog turtle habitat, control invasive species, and stabilize the stream bank. Through the partnerships we have already planted riparian buffers along the river and plan to conduct invasive species removal and create shallow water pools for wildlife such as amphibians.

The site contains active bog turtle habitat that has been degraded over time through grazing and other human induced impacts. Bog turtles are found throughout the state, but Sussex County is a hot spot because of its prime wetlands habitat. At the bog turtle site, cattle will be actively managed to graze the area for specific periods of time throughout the year. This will reduce invasive species and create mucky soils preferred by the bog turtle.

New Jersey Audubon Society was also able to supply a native sedge plant to enhance the wetland. Last week, a youth corps group from Phillipsburg, New Jersey met on site to help plant green bulrush. The bulrush will aid to improve water quality, as it will take up phosphorous and other nutrients moving into the water column. It will also aid to reduce erosion and provide food and cover for ducks, and other water birds. So far, 5,050 plugs of green bulrush have been planted!

CWF has also partnered on other Sussex County bog turtle restoration projects with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, USFWS, and the New Jersey Corporate Wetlands Restoration Program.

Learn More:

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s online field guide: bog turtle

 

Kelly Triece is a Biologist for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

By: Kelly Triece, Wildlife Biologist

Wetlands are important because they are part of New Jersey’s water resources and are vital to the health of our waterways. Although historically underappreciated, wetlands provide many environmental benefits such as filtering pollutants, storing floodwaters and serving as carbon sinks. New Jersey is comprised of a multitude of wetland types, including freshwater swamps, bogs, fens as well as estuarine and tidal marshes.

 
Many threatened and endangered species in New Jersey depend directly on wetlands, including the small and elusive bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii)! Bog turtles spend their entire lives in mossy bogs, wet meadows or stream fed seeps. They fed mostly on invertebrates, seeds, berries and carrion. Bog turtles are important members of their ecosystem because they help recycle nutrients, keep insect populations in check, and serve as indicators of wetland function and water quality. This tiny turtle and other wetland species are often victims of habitat loss and fragmentation, so protection of our precious wetlands is important to the long term vitality of many wildlife populations!

 
Millions of citizens enjoy their local wetlands every year through recreational uses provided by photography, hiking, fishing, canoeing and more! Did you know New Jersey is home to over 900,000 acres of wetlands? Get out and explore today!

 

Learn more:

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Online Field Guide: Bog Turtle
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Bog Turtle Project

 

Kelly Triece is a Wildlife Biologist for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.