Land Trust Stewardship Coordinator
Nestled in a wooded area called Collins Slide, Turtle Haven is one of seven acquisition sites in Friends' Preserve the Wonder land conservation campaign.
This 64-acre parcel, surrounded by U.S. Forest Service land on three sides, has long provided habitat for western pond turtles (Clemmys mamorata) and Friends' conservation efforts there will enhance this invaluable turtle refuge. Western pond turtles have been listed by Washington state as endangered since 1993, due to wetland habitat loss and predator invasion, primarily by nonnative bullfrogs. A centuries-old, slow-moving landslide may have also played a part in the demise of this pond turtle population in the Gorge.
However, the current geography of Turtle Haven offers a mosaic of ponds, seasonal pools, springs, and streams, as well as terrestrial areas where turtles can forage, mate, nest, overwinter, estivate, bask, and travel between water bodies – exactly the type of habitat turtles need to support their recovery.
The Oregon Zoo has collected pond turtle hatchlings to rear in captivity, allowing them to triple in size before reintroducing them, so they can better defend themselves from predators. This reintroduction is fittingly taking place this week, coinciding with World Turtle Day. The Forest Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have worked to improve turtle habitat by removing bull frogs and their egg masses, mowing tall grasses and removing invasive weeds where turtles nest, and putting wood into ponds to provide basking sites, a key activity of turtles to reduce parasites on their shells.
Turtle Haven supports many other wildlife species including megafauna such as black bear, cougar, coyote, elk, and deer. With more than a dozen ponds within a square-mile area of Turtle Haven, this Preserve the Wonder acquisition could play a key role in larger, cooperative conservation efforts, especially for turtles, by making wildlife habitat in the Gorge more contiguous and less fragmented.
Photo of western pond turtle courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife