Presence of marsh-dwelling reptiles may dictate new route of U.S. 301
By ALISON KEPNER
The News Journal
04/17/2006
Wearing hip waders, Jim White sloshes through the freshwater marsh, probing the mud around him with a long yellow pole.
Sometimes aided by the binoculars around his neck, he scans the water and grassy knolls for bog turtles basking in the midmorning sun. His eyes are well trained after 25 years of searching for the rare critter, which may dive deep into the mud when it senses a human's approach.
He pulls a thermometer from his canvas bag to check the surface-water temperature -- 55 degrees. That is on the cool side for the bog turtle, a federally threatened species that lives in northern Delaware marshes such as this one at Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin.
White, a state-certified bog turtle surveyor, is demonstrating how experts search for the semiaquatic reptiles in areas slated for development. It is the same process state consultants will undertake this week as they begin a two-month bog turtle survey along four potential routes for the new U.S. 301 near Middletown.
The bog turtle, at about 3 inches long and 4 ounces, is best identified by a yellow or orange splotch behind each eye, markings that distinguish it from the spotted turtles that share its habitat.
It breeds from late April to early June after emerging from hibernation in the mud of about 350 sites in northern Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. In 1997, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced protections for bog turtles, federal scientists said the turtles' habitat and numbers had decreased by 50 percent in the preceding 20 years.
The state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program began monitoring bog turtles in 1992. State workers survey known sites to keep track of the population and look for new habitats. Division of Fish and Wildlife officials work with owners of bog turtle habitats to maintain optimal vegetation to encourage populations.
"They are threatened for one reason -- their habitats," White said, explaining that many property owners filled the turtles' marsh homes with dirt. "They were just developed."
White, associate director of land and biodiversity management at the Delaware Nature Society, moonlights as an independent contractor, working for the state, private companies, developers and homeowners. He is not part of the U.S. 301 team but understands what those surveyors will be doing in the coming weeks.
At least seven three-person teams will survey 25 wetland areas with more than 60 acres of potential habitat. They will visit each at least four times between now and June 15. At some sites, they also may use traps, project head Mark Tudor said.
State officials won't discuss exactly where or when they will be looking. Nor will they allow the media to accompany them. They don't want the public joining the search or otherwise disturbing the turtles, which also are collected illegally and sold for hundreds of dollars on the black market.
The probing demonstrated by White is the second phase of a bog turtle survey. The first is analyzing areas as potential habitats.
A certified surveyor looks at hydrology, soil and vegetation, White said. Bog turtles like shallow standing water, often spring-fed, with patches of open water in grassy areas. The soil must be mucky, and the vegetation usually includes hummocks.
Surveyors quantify their findings and turn the data over to state officials, who determine whether the site is a potential habitat. If so, they order a phase-two study.
Delaware requires that the three-person teams survey every acre for at least two hours on each visit. At least one member of the team must be certified. The surveys are conducted between 9 a.m. and dusk on days with less than 50 percent cloud cover. The temperature must be at least 55 degrees.
Team members start with an opportunistic search -- scanning the area for any obvious turtle signs and the most likely sighting spots. Then they begin a grid search, slowly walking in straight lines a stick length apart, across and back, until they cover the entire acre.
"We look at every square inch of the marsh," White said.
That doesn't mean they won't miss the hard-to-spot creatures. White equates the difficulty of spotting them with looking for a brown beer bottle submerged in mud with just the top of the bottle showing.
"That's why you have to come back four times, and you need ideal conditions," he said.
If someone finds one, the survey stops. The turtle is held in a bucket, and surveyors call state officials to take over. They weigh, mark and photograph the turtle before release.
The discovery of a bog turtle doesn't mean land can't be developed, but the builder must mitigate by constructing a bridge over a wetland or shifting a project to avoid disturbing the habitat.
That has caused some property owners in the path of U.S. 301 alternatives to become bog turtle fans. Wayne Usilton, whose Summit Bridge Road home is in the path of two routes, wore a T-shirt to a recent U.S. 301 workshop in Middletown reading "Bog Turtle Sanctuary" with his address.
"I wish I could find some, because I'd put them on my property," he joked.
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