I moved to berks county PA in 2001, and lost my interest in herps for a while. Recently I have regained my interest in conservation and research. When I lived in NY I was part of the NYS reptile and amphibian atlas project, I volunteered at the Institute of Ecosystem studies where we use radio equipment to track blandings turtles in an area where a school decided to destroy a wetland habitat for their new buildings. I am a spotted turtle owner. I have trecked through hundreds and hundreds of acres of federally protected wetlands/bogs/marshes, never once to see a spotted turtle in the wild. Ive seen more Blanding's turtle than most will see in a lifetime.



My question is this....NYS is overrun (a good thing) with herp conservation projects (at least it seems this way compared to what I can find available in PA). Who is in charge of conservation in PA? What organizations are doing studies of habitat and fauna populations? Its kind of upsetting to not be able to find ONE project of past or present that has been done for herps in my area. Whats the deal with that? Bog turtles, Spotted turtles, Wood turtles, not to mention a slew (sp?) of other animals (mostly frogs) are just left to their own fate? Somehow I doubt that, but still, where are the organizations and projects listed? Who do I get in contact with locally to answer my questions? This question probably best left for PA residents in the know to answer. Environmental conservation is completely different state to state ( as I found out trying to search for DEC, which is a NY thing, DCNR is what it is in PA ).



I dont mean to sound angry, but Im just a little upset that projects like this are so hard to find. Anyway, if anyone is involved in anything, or would like to give me an idea of where to find some good projects going on, let me know. TIA everyone.

[ Show Entire Thread ]