Introduction and Workshop Overview

(1) Tortoise Reserve, Inc., P.O. Box 7082, White Lake, NC 28337

(2) Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, 1361 Wrighton Rd., Lothian, MD 20711

(3) Conservation International, 1919 M St., NW, Washington, DC 20036

• Biology and natural history of the Bog Turtle (Dave Lee)

• Current status and conservation activities in Maryland (Scott Smith)

• Management of metapopulations (Kurt Buhlmann)

• Structure and activities of Project Bog Turtle in the Southern Appalachians (Dennis Herman)

• The Tortoise Reserve’s Sanctuary Program, Educational slide sets, and breeding bird surveys in Bog Turtle wetlands (Dave Lee)

• The education program at the Baltimore Zoo (Anthony Wisnieski)

• Succession and invasive plant eradication (Dennis Herman)

• The role and limitations of land trusts (Mike Hollins)

• Building local consensus (William Branch)

• Legal issues and the Safe Harbor Program (Andy Moser)

• A primer of conservation options for private landowners

• Coordinating programs between landowners, private organizations, and county, state and federal agencies

• Education and public relations

• Options for control of invasive woody and exotic plants

• Wetland restoration

• Development of a landowner’s or land manager’s guide for managing sites

• Long-range planning

We hope that the action plans and other information (web sites, list of invasive plant species found in Bog Turtle habitat and bibliography of scientific papers concerning Bog Turtles) in this report will address many of the needs and concerns of the conservation community that is involved with the welfare and survival of Bog Turtles. We also hope to provide the groundwork for new actions that are broad-based and can be locally modified to fit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’ Bog Turtle Recovery Plan. We anticipate that this workshop will result in fast track conservation efforts.

Workshop participants recognized a need for coordination among groups and agencies. In the spring of 1999, a major meeting organized by Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources addressed the conservation needs for Maryland’s Bog Turtles. In part, our 2001 workshop and this report are follow up efforts so that the interest and information generated at the 1999 meeting can be put to greater use and to encourage more involvement by the private sector. Bog Turtle conservation efforts, however, are not clearly under the mandate of a single group or agency. The grass roots conservation and management efforts that are now needed do not fall under any particular agency and are outside the scope of traditional academic interest. Furthermore, the efforts needed may not generate funding interest from large conservation organizations. The sites on private lands will probably always be held in private hands. Local conservation programs have not effectively worked the Bog Turtle into their long-range goals.

While it is clear that Bog Turtle conservation is a concern of many organizations and agencies, major activities are currently limited to those of the Maryland DNR. The workshop has catalyzed interest in protecting more Bog Turtle sites and to insuring or reestablishing the appropriate “successional windows” at the currently protected sites. It is our opinion, however, that private landowners need to be the focus of such activities, and that NGOs and local land trusts need to play a greater role in working with these landowners.

The state of Maryland had done an excellent job of gathering baseline information and of preventing the loss of additional wetland habitat. Much has been accomplished in recent years. Fortunately, many of the action plans described here are already in place. Sites of occurrence are known and the ecological needs of the turtle are reasonably well understood. These activities now need to involve the private sector. A viable conservation program will be a combination of educational and awareness activities coupled with land management and site protection. The latter is to come from land trusts, easements, trying to lower county taxes on key sites, land donations, and perhaps even land purchases. In addition to protection, sites will need periodic habitat management and some may require major restoration. Some of these activities can be run by volunteer efforts.

Action is needed now. Former rural areas are under extreme threat of suburban housing developments. Additionally useful habitat management techniques may be difficult to implement at turtle sites because local ordinances often prohibit domestic grazing animals, burning, and in one county, unregulated tree removal. Thus, traditional methods that formerly kept the wetlands open may not be available to landowners. Former farmers who are of advanced age own many of the sites. At their passing, most sites will be subdivided and sold. In the next 15 years, we anticipate a decline in the number of occupied Bog Turtle sites similar to the decline that took place between the mid 1970s and the early 1990s. Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is planning a follow up survey, starting in 2002, to document the status of Bog Turtle habitat. Few coordinated efforts have been made to work with private landowners to educate them about the needs of the turtle, to control wetland succession, to work the wetlands into land easements, or to provide other incentives for landowners to manage lands in ways that provide viable habitat for the species. Workshop participants agreed that focused conservation efforts on land easements, succession management, and education need to begin immediately.

In general, workshop participants agreed to the following goals:

• Long-term conservation of metapopulations of Bog Turtles needs to involve the private sector and workshop working groups recognized that the private sector has many tools and much flexibility, which are not always available to public agencies.

• A program needs to be set in place so that conservation efforts are run locally and are structured to perpetuate. This could be accomplished by regional conservation organizations that have missions not directly related to Bog Turtles.

• Secure five important sites and any number of secondary sites in a metapopulation. Establish one to two metapopulations in each county or sub-watershed unit. This would provide tangible results on which future efforts could build.

• Consider captive breeding as a viable strategy for providing stocks to restored wetlands in specific watersheds.

• For long-term protection, a grass roots program such as the one developed by Project Bog Turtle for the Southeast is needed along with a standing committee to oversee and coordinate individual efforts.

• On-going educational programs are critical at all levels.