OTTAWA SUN (Ontario) 03 September 06 SNC plans a shell all - Conservation authority seeks public help in count of rare turtles (Tom Van Dusen)
Berwick -- Wanted, Dead or Alive: Stinkpot and spiny softshell.
No, it's not a police poster trying to track down a couple of hoods by their underworld monikers.
It's an environmental poster enlisting public help in spotting five rare turtles in the 4,000 sq.-km South Nation Conservation watershed extending from the Brockville area to Plantagenet, including stretches of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers.
The Berwick-based conservation authority has been given $40,000 by the federal Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk to track down and catalogue Stinkpot and his friends.
The species in question are the spotted turtle, the aforementioned stinkpot or musk turtle, Blanding's turtle, eastern spiny softshell turtle and the northern map turtle.
The spotted is small with a smooth black shell covered with yellow and orange spots. The stinkpot is also small with a high-domed olive to black shell and two yellowish stripes on each side of the head.
Blanding's has a bright yellow chin and throat and helmet shell in black to greyish brown with yellowish spots or streaks. The eastern spiny has a flat olive-grey to brown shell, long neck and elongated snout.
The northern map sports fine yellow lines on head, legs, and tail as well as on its olive green to brownish broad, scalloped shell.
Earlier this summer, the project got off to a tragic start when a youth deliberately ran over a female northern map turtle which was full of eggs. He has since been convicted of interfering with a species at risk, fined $100, and ordered to do community work.
"It takes 12 years for a female to reach the egg-laying stage,"said project co-ordinator Michele Rodrick. "That was a whole generation of turtles destroyed."
So far, most reports of turtle sightings involve the snapping and painted varieties, which aren't being studied. Rodrick doesn't discourage those calls, preferring to confirm all cases. Even reports of road kills are welcome.
She emphasized that rare turtles are protected and must not be removed from their habitat.
These days, turtles are "basking" as they prepare for the hibernation period, when they'll bury themselves in mud in groups according to species.
"One of the things we're trying to do is discover those hibernation sites so they can be protected," Rodrick said.
The SNC species at risk resource person has spent much of the summer canoeing the South Nation River looking for the five turtles. Rodrick can only confirm the map turtle by personal observation, which officially put the watershed on the species at risk map.
If you've been "mucking around" in the SNC watershed and think you've seen a rare turtle, Rodrick would like to know about it: mrodrick@nation.on.ca or 1-877-984-2948, ext. 252.
Conservation authority seeks public help in count of rare turtles