This is the Year of the (Bog) Turtle for conservationists

This may be the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, but for naturalists around the country 2011 is the Year of the Turtle —including, of course, the Tri-state region’s most famous herpetological specimen: the bog turtle.These miniscule creatures, which are among the smallest turtles in the world, have outsized power despite their size. They’ve helped put the brakes on plans for everything from horse paddocks to houses to the luxury golfing community planned (at one time) for North Canaan and Norfolk.How does a furtive creature that lives under a hummock in a swamp and measures less than 4 inches wield so much might? Bog turtles are on the federal threatened species list and the Connecticut and New York endangered species lists — which means it’s illegal to tamper with them or to threaten their habitats in any way (by, for example, draining them or building on or around them).Bog turtles in MillertonThe bog turtle is taking an active part right now in two projects proposed for Millerton: a grocery store that would be built behind Thompson Plaza on Route 44 and a coffee roasting plant for Irving Farm Coffee Company that would be on Route 22 near the NAPA Auto Parts Store.Salisbury resident Michael Klemens, one of the world’s leading herpetologists and the chairman of his town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, has already been called in to offer an opinion. The next step is likely to be several surveys of the planned building sites, to see whether they are in fact potential bog turtle habitats (actual turtles or evidence of turtles doesn’t have to be found, usually; all that’s generally required is that the site be deemed hospitable to the little muck-loving swamp creatures).The protocol recommended by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service involves several study phases. The surveys involve a close look at the soils and waters on the site, to see if they create the conditions that bog turtles like to live in. They’re supposed to be done between, roughly, April and June, when snow and ice are off the ground and when the turtles are coming out of hibernation — but before there might be any eggs and nests in the bogs. Which means, of course, that if either of those planned businesses hopes to break ground this year, the surveys should be done soon.Year of the TurtleIt’s likely that state and federal agencies will be searching for those bog turtle habitats with extra care this year — the Year of the Turtle, according to the national nonprofit group Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC). Of course, nonprofits are constantly declaring national days, weeks, months and years in honor of their causes. But the PARC project has more oomph because of the environmental groups that have joined and support it — including the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).The turtle campaign is mainly centered on making people aware that turtles of all shapes and sizes are in danger of disappearing from the planet if they don’t get a little TLC (and PDQ).There are 328 turtle species in the world; 57 of them can be found in the U.S. and Canada, and 12 of them can be found in Connecticut, according to a fact sheet available at the Connecticut environmental agency’s website (ct.gov/dep). Needless to say, most of those species are found in the wet, rural Northwest Corner.Of those 12 types of turtles, seven are on the state list of species that are endangered, threatened or of special concern. The bog turtle, which is at the top of the list, is listed as the rarest turtle in the state. No one actually knows how many of them live in Connecticut, however. They are famously the friendliest turtles on the planet; instead of pulling their heads into their shells when picked up, they pull their heads up and seem to look at their human captors. But they are also tiny, elusive and extremely hard to find.New York state has 18 turtle species; 11 of them are endangered, threatened and of special concern. Bog turtles are, of course, on that list. There are three known bog turtle sites in the state. So far.It’s hard to know if any of those three sites is in Millerton. People who know where the turtles are tend to keep mum about it; they don’t want poachers or even the merely curious to go looking for them and either catch and keep them or step on them by mistake.Their worst enemy: timeHumans and human development are of course a major threat to bog turtles. But the biggest threat of all to them and to all turtles is the otherwise admirably slow pace at which they live and reproduce. It isn’t just that they move slowly, according to the Connecticut DEP fact sheet. They also, like humans, wait a long time before they start to procreate. “It may take 10 to 15 years before individuals of some species can reproduce,” according to the fact sheet. “A thriving turtle population relies on turtles surviving for many years, if not decades.”And once they get around to it, they aren’t exactly breeding like rabbits. Most turtles lay only a few precious eggs annually.Bog turtles produce a mere two to three eggs each year. Which is one reason why surveys of their possible habitats aren’t done in early to mid-summer, when the fragile nests are exposed; or in late summer, when the tiny young (a mere inch long, smaller than a human thumb) are skittering around the fens and trying not to be eaten by natural predators such as skunks, foxes and dogs.Of course bog turtles do live for an estimated four decades, and do lay eggs every year. But the odds are still pretty long for bog turtle babies to make it to an age when they can generate offspring of their own.Part of the concern, too, with building in or near bog turtle habitats is that a turtle community can be fragmented and the turtles can be cut off from potential mating partners. As most students of biology know, it’s not good genetically for animals to have a very small breeding pool.Certainly other threats to turtles exist. PARC has a list online at its Year of the Turtle website, parcplace.org/yearoftheturtle.Most items on the list are, sadly, out of the hands of the average citizen. They include the ravages of exotic invasive species and diseases, a loss of unique genetic makeup due to hybridization, and climate change.The list does warn that cars and machinery are a major cause of turtle death. Drivers are encouraged to stop and wait when they see one of the poky amphibians crawling across the road — even if it’s one of the more common species, such as the region’s ubiquitous snapping turtles. If they aren’t cared for, PARC warns, even the common species might soon find themselves on the threatened species list.