Turtles found next to supermarket site

NORTH EAST AND SALISBURY, Conn. — Five bog turtles have been found within “a turtle’s walking distance” of a site in the town of North East (which encompasses the village of Millerton) where a new supermarket might be built.The discovery of the turtles will not end plans for the market. It could mean that there will be some delays as environmental studies are done, and that the plans for the market might need to be adapted.That is, of course, if anyone is willing to acknowledge that the turtles exist.Bog turtles are not a popular creature among real estate developers and town officials in Connecticut and New York. The federal government lists them as a threatened species and both New York and Connecticut list the tiny turtles as an endangered species.Which means, in a nutshell, that special care must be taken when anyone or anything could conceivably disturb any of the boggy fens (and the dry land that surrounds them) where bog turtles make their homes. Border warIt will be up to the Planning Board in North East to decide if they want to acknowledge the turtles and make accommodations.Unfortunately for the turtles, they don’t live in New York state. They reside on the Connecticut side of the border, in Salisbury, and could conceivably fall through the regulatory cracks. They might also fall victim to a certain amount of antagonism that has developed in recent years between several of the humans who hold the turtles’ fate in their hands.Turtles are certainly not a rarity here in the Tri-state region. At certain times of year, the fields, beaches, lakes and roads are literally crawling with large and small specimens wandering around in search of water or food or mates. There are snapping turtles, wood turtles, painted turtles — and the less common wood and spotted turtles.And every now and again, there is a bog turtle. These are, arguably, the most beloved members of the turtle family. They are small (about 4 inches long). They are cute (if you’re into that kind of thing). They are very friendly, for reptiles; unlike other turtles, they don’t pull their heads into their shells when a human picks them up. They look up. They seem to smile. So humans who care about bog turtles care about them very deeply. And turtle experts in particular are concerned about the turtles because they are dying out in New England. “Connecticut is about to have the dubious distinction of being the first range state where the bog turtle natively occurs and where it could become extinct,” said Michael Klemens, Ph.D., a Salisbury resident and a world-renowned naturalist and respected expert in all things herpetological (snakes, salamanders, turtles). When it comes to most reptilian creatures, he is literally “the one who wrote the book on them.” In addition to his other titles, he was also hired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to write the “recovery plan” for New England bog turtles. Species could die out hereOf special interest and concern to him, he said in a phone interview Monday, is this particular wetland, which is in both Connecticut and New York. “It may contain Connecticut’s last viable population of bog turtles,” he said. “Since I started studying these turtles in the late 1970s, I’ve seen the handful of populations in the Northwest Corner — their last stronghold within the state — dwindle.”Unlike some environmentalists, who try to stop building projects by claiming that sites are bog turtle sanctuaries, Klemens is pro-progress. He doesn’t want to get in the way of the proposed supermarket; he simply wants to help find a way for the turtles and the developers to coexist.One would think that area officials would be eager to get his input on how to accommodate the little population of little turtles. Klemens feels that, generally, they’ve been skeptical more than welcoming, and have raised questions about what is motivating his comments.“It’s mainly an issue of jurisdiction,” he said. The turtles were found — by a team of biologists from the state of Connecticut — on the Salisbury side of the border that separates the two states. The proposed supermarket would be built on land that is acknowledged to be a wetland, behind Thompson Plaza (home to the North East Athletic Center and several other businesses) in North East, just off Route 22. So far, Klemens said, state and federal environmental officials are saying that because the turtles were found in Connecticut, towns in the state of New York can technically ignore their existence. And at this moment, Klemens said, there is a very strong pro-building movement in New York. “There’s a real weakness and unwillingness to stand up for environmental protection,” he said. “It’s a bad time to be a person who cares about the environment. It’s sad.”Hearing will be June 12Dale Culver, who is chairman of the Planning Board for the town of North East, said in a phone interview on Monday afternoon that he hadn’t yet heard about the discovery of the turtles. He invited Klemens to come to the board’s public hearing on the supermarket, on June 12, to present the information to the board members. He said there is a public comment section at the beginning of every meeting and that anyone is welcome to speak.He did, however, confirm something that Klemens had indicated is a problem. As a world-renowned turtle expert, Klemens is often asked to do surveys or provide testimony on whether or not turtle populations exist in an area where there might be construction. Because some of these projects tend to have a high pricetag attached to them, Klemens’ presence can be polarizing. In this particular case, Klemens had been hired as a consultant for Dan Katz of Freshtown, a company that would be in competition with the new supermarket if it is built and approved.When Culver heard that it was Klemens who found the turtle, he immediately said, “I know Freshtown has a myriad of people finding things.”Klemens said that he is not speaking as a consultant for Katz, and that, “I don’t care if there are 20 supermarkets built on the site, as long as they do it right. But they have to do it right.”He is not, he said, speaking as a representative of any town, any commission, any state or federal agency. He is speaking as a private individual and conservationist whose main concern is the protection of an endangered species. Backing up that claim with action, he resigned June 4 from the Katz team, “so it would be clear to all parties that my sole concern is the survival of the bog turtle.”In the case of the proposed grocery store, he said, there are at least three ways the plans for the market could be adapted to protect the bog turtles. One option, he said,would be for the grocery store to find a different site altogether. A second option would be for the company to reduce the size of the proposed market (plans indicate it would be 36,000 square feet on the 10.5 acre site). A third option, he said, would be for the developer to purchase some of the other properties around their site (such as Thompson Plaza or Basil Auto Sales and Services). With a larger site, Klemens said, they “would be able to better protect the sensitive wetland with a 300-foot buffer.” Currently the proposed market is working with plans for a 100-foot buffer around the wetland, as is required by the state.The five turtles were found within a mile of the spot where the market is presently supposed to be built. “A bog turtle can move that far during the course of its lifespan of 30 or more years, or in a single season in response to habitat changes,” Klemens said. Zones of diminishing urgencyAccording to the Fish and Wildlife recovery plan for the bog turtle, there are three management zones of diminishing urgency around a spot where bog turtles could or do live. Zone One is the wetland itself and there are no plans to build anything there now.Zone Two extends 300 feet from the wetland, and Klemens said, “The recovery plan suggests that there be no development, roads, infrastructure in Zone Two.”A large portion of the proposed grocery store, Klemens said, would be in Zone Two.Zone Three extends out from that 300 feet line to as far away as a mile. In that zone, Klemens said, special consideration has to be made of activities that “could affect both surfacewater and groundwater that flow into the bog turtles’ wetlands.”At present, the town of Salisbury has plans to build its new transfer station there, on property between Route 22 and Dimond Road. Voices not being heardThis has been the source of some hostility between the towns of North East and Salisbury. Klemens, it should be noted, is chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission in Salisbury, and the discovery of the bog turtles will also need to be addressed in his own town’s plans for its transfer station. A few years ago, when Salisbury was holding public hearings about the plans for the transfer station, some North East and Millerton residents and officials said they were concerned that the transfer station would create additional trash on the roads and additional traffic in their town. Their views were heard but not acted upon.When North East Planning Board’s Culver heard that it was Klemens who had reported the turtles and that they were found in Salisbury, he did comment that Salisbury “didn’t invite us to participate in their transfer station process and wouldn’t allow comments from us.” “There’s a lot of cross-border antagonism,” Klemens observed. “It’s a mess, and it’s very hard to put your arms around it.”He did note that, “as long as I am chairman of Salisbury’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Mr. Culver can be assured that citizens of North East will be afforded the same courtesy by the commission as residents of Salisbury.”Although Klemens has a conflict on the evening of June 12 and can’t attend the Planning Board public hearing on the proposed supermarket, he plans to make a submission to the board ahead of time, with photos and data of the bog turtles collected in the past month. He hopes that environmentalists and conservationists from the area will join him, and express their hope that the grocery store developers will adapt their plans and find room in their hearts for the wee bog turtle.The June 12 hearing begins at 7:45 p.m. and will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex, 28 Century Blvd.