Bog Turtle juvenile, Great Swamp NWR, Summer 2008, photo by Colin Osborn.

Bog Turtle juvenile in-hand, Great Swamp NWR, Summer 2008, photo by Colin Osborn.

Interns and volunteers removing Red Maple saplings to restore habitat, Great Swamp NWR, Spring 2008, photo by Colin Osborn.

Setting back a Broad-leaved Cattail infestation to allow out-competed species a chance to restablish, Great Swamp NWR, Fall 2008, photo by Colin Osborn.

This past year marked another successful field season for bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) conservation work at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge biologists, interns, volunteers, and a contracted herpetologist all worked together to restore habitat and remove invasive species for the benefit of the Federally threatened and New Jersey State endangered turtle. Habitat restoration measures involved cutting and herbicidal stump-treating Red Maple (Acer rubrum) saplings that were threatening to shade out the open sedge meadow habitat that the bog turtle relies on for basking, foraging, and nesting. Several areas that were over-run with broad-leaved cattail (Typha latifolia) were cut back and carefully treated with herbicide to allow the reestablishment of sedges, ferns, and various other wetland plants. Although cattail is a native species, it can grow aggressively in wetlands and form monocultures that eliminate vegetative diversity, which reduces the quality of these habitats and can ultimately affect species like the bog turtle that rely on them. A number of invasive species encroachments were discovered and immediately taken care of to prevent this same type of harmful infestation. Common reed (Phragmites australis) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) were the culprits and were dealt with the same way as the cattail. Visual surveys were also extensively performed in hopes of recapturing known turtles and discovering new ones. Of all known individuals, 62.5% were recaptured. One of these was a female that had a severe infection from a wound caused by a predator. She was taken to a special turtle rehabilitator who successfully treat her returned her to the wild. Had this turtle not been found, the infection would have likely killed her. The most exciting discovery made this year was that of two new juvenile turtles. The presence of juveniles is extremely important because not only do they represent the future of the population but they indicate that successful breeding, nesting, and hatchling survivorship is occurring. This can all be linked back to the proactive management and hard work spearheaded by refuge biologists Colin Osborn and Mike Horne along with herpetologist Kurt Buhlmann, which the refuge has performed and will continue to perform to assure the survival of the bog turtle in the Great Swamp.

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is one of only two refuges in the Northeast Region that are known to support bog turtle populations.