Reptile & Amphibian Forums

HOWARD COUNTY TIMES (Columbia, Maryland) 30 October 08 Volunteers trek into park to save turtles - Habitat giving way for building community center (Derek Simmonsen)
They combed through the dead leaves and brush with rakes and sticks, searching for their elusive target -- the eastern box turtle.
The group of roughly 15 volunteers -- calling themselves the Howard County Turtle Team -- spent the morning of Oct. 24 in the woods of North Laurel Park hunting for box turtles hiding under logs and fallen leaves. The search was organized by Susan Muller, a natural resource technician for Howard County, who said it was the first time the county has held such an event.
The terrain they combed, about 17 acres in the roughly 60-acre park, soon will be razed for the creation of a community center and Muller said she wanted to be sure the turtles were moved to another part of the park before construction begins.
Work on the North Laurel Community Center, a 60,000-square-foot facility costing roughly $19.5 million, will start in April 2009 and be finished in October 2010, according to the county's Recreation and Parks Web site.
After about two hours of searching Oct. 24, the group found two turtles, an adult and a juvenile, and a salamander that were "hunkered down in the cold," Muller said. Two more turtles were found during a search Oct. 26.
"I'm very pleased," Muller said of the hunt. "They're not easy to find. That's why you need so many helping hands and eyes."
Muller said the county will keep the turtles for about a week before releasing them back into the park to make sure they do not wander back to their original homes before a fence is put up around the future construction site. Box turtles tend to live within a small territory and have been known to wander back to their homes if displaced, she said.
Among the volunteers was Ellen Sellers, 49, of Fulton, and her dog Portia, a Rottweiler-Labrador mix who is able to sniff out turtles. Sellers got her dog through the Animal Welfare Society of Howard County and had no idea of her dog's talent until Portia began finding turtles on Fulton her property, Sellers said.
"I didn't know I had turtles until she came along," Sellers said. "I've been there for seven years and didn't know they were there. That's how hard they are to find."
Also taking the morning to search the woods were Dawn Eden, 43, and her son Jared Richards, 10, a fifth-grader at Clarksville Elementary School.
"My son loves reptiles," said Eden, of Columbia. "Any kind of conservation effort, he's there."
In addition to the turtle hunt, a few volunteers helped relocate plants out of the construction zone, including pink lady slippers and trailing arbutus. The plants require specific conditions to thrive and are found in the eastern portion of Howard County, Muller said.
Muller said box turtles are a "species of concern" because they face multiple dangers, including the destruction of their habitat, people collecting them, and threats from cars and lawn mowers. While the relocation effort is new to Howard County, there have been other similar turtle hunts conducted around the state, she said.
Muller said she has planned another turtle search this weekend, weather permitting, and that those interested in volunteering should call her at 410-313-4697.
Volunteers trek into park to save turtles

I hope more communities will do this. I bet if they gave people the opportunity to do this-they would have no trouble finding volunteers. I'm going to send the story to my state herpetologist! Tess