Bog Turtle Conservation

Nongame Conservation Section staff (including bog turtle conservation interns) and Atlanta Botanical Garden staff, in cooperation with the Orianne Society, deployed a total of 200 traps within 15 different sites in five known bog turtle sites. The effort, totaling at least 11,000 trap nights, resulted in 21 different bog turtles trapped at five sites, or nearly 40 percent of all known Georgia bog turtles in the wild. The 21 included seven turtles that had not been captured before, one of which represented a newly discovered population.

Genetic tissue samples were collected from the 21 turtles for inclusion in the Georgia Museum of Natural History genetic archive collection and for the U.S. Geological Survey.

Three of the female turtles captured in 2010 were confirmed by radiograph to be gravid. As part of the Bog Turtle Headstart program, all three laid their eggs at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in June. Six of the eggs appeared viable, and four hatchlings survived. They will be “head-started” for two years before being released into restored habitat on the Chattahoochee National Forest.

• Return to Conservation Efforts page [1].