Worcester's Mark Powell has a passion to preserve the elusive wood turtle
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Mark Powell holds one of the wood turtles he has been studying in an attempt to help preserve the species in his area of Vermont. |
Toolbox
By CHRISTOPHER DODGE Correspondent - Published: November 2, 2009
Slow and steady may have been a successful strategy for the tortoise in Aesop's classic fable, but it just may work out well for the turtles, too.
Enter Mark Powell, a computer techie by day with a self-professed obsession with Vermont's rare wood turtles during his off hours. According to Powell, the turtles, known scientifically as Clemmys Insculpta, have faced a constant decline in population in recent years primarily due to human development of the land and waterways the turtles call home. The species may have lived in Vermont for more than 10,000 years, since the last glacial retreat.
Powell's obsession with locating, tracking and eventually protecting wood turtles began in 2001, after buying a home in Worcester. With two ponds on his property, and a curiosity for all things nature (Powell previously pursued eagles and whales), the call of the wild lead him to shell out time and money in search of the scarce creatures.
"I had never heard of them. They were a mystery to me," Powell said, sitting at his dining room table closely monitoring several baby wood turtles ready for release in a dog food bowl of water and leaves. "There are many places where there are no wood turtles. The whole mystery behind where they are attracted me to them."
Scattered along the banks and bottom of a small stretch of waterway on a recent chilly morning, Powell reveled in the quest for the elusive creatures, narrating as he went along.
"When I was a kid my special talent was finding four-leaf clovers. I noticed the difference in patterns. My eye would somehow catch that," Powell said, knee-deep in water and scouring the river's bottom for similar changes in patterns, the subtle visual uniqueness between a rock and turtle shell.
But, locating and protecting a species, even one the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife calls a "conservation concern," isn't easy.
In 2002, the State rejected a proposal by Powell to establish a turtle farm on his land. He had hoped to breed wood turtles and release them into the wild, reinvigorating the population. They did, however, grant him a license to capture, mark and release wood turtles. He also eventually convinced non-game wildlife officials to allow him to relocate wood turtle nests from a close-by driveway to his back yard out of harm's way.
I felt very well listened to," Powell said of his interactions with state officials. "They really helped me find a way for my enthusiasm to take on the form of a realistic and tangible plan."
Powell has since relocated snapping and painted turtle nests, as well. Primarily, though, he has splashed his way through Vermont's frigid fall streams and rivers, seeking out the rare wood turtle. During spring and fall, he conducts field research as many as three times per week.
Powell's system of data collection is simple. The cold fall waters make the turtles more docile, and easily caught with a net or bare hands. Powell measures, weighs and photographs each encounter before using a small chainsaw file to notch the turtle's shell (again, with official permission). The location of the notches on either side of the shell identifies the turtles to Powell and, he hopes, will help deter poachers from being able to sell the turtles if his notch identifies the turtle as wild. Capturing and keeping or selling wood turtles is illegal in Vermont.
His system of marking the turtles is working, he noted proudly, plucking "Andrew," a roughly three-year old wood turtle from the rocky riverbed. Powell and Andrew have met on several occasions previously.
Powell is tight-lipped about the exact location of Vermont's rare wood turtles. With female wood turtles, he says, selling for as much as $250 on the Internet, and juveniles going for up to $100 each, he fears poachers would take advantage of the information and keeps his "hot spots" confidential. Wood turtles are sold primarily as pets. In an effort to raise awareness about the fragile state of the little creatures, Powell enjoys animated talks about them, showing his extensive photo and data collection and taking the rare privileged turtle fan on a brief expedition in the wilderness, where wood turtles may be found foraging for food up to 1,000 feet from the safety of water.
In colonial days, according to Powell, turtle soup was a luxury. Typically made with turtle meat from the Diamondback Terrapin, the wood turtle became the poor man's terrapin, collected by the hundreds in a single afternoon and sold to restaurants. "They never really recovered from that large-scale collection," Powell said.
In Connecticut, the wood turtle population disappeared in the region of one waterway that was reopened to hikers. Poaching is likely the cause.
Wood turtles grow to be about seven or eight inches long and have a roughly textured shell. The reddish-orange skin on their neck and legs is tamed by a yellow underside with unique black markings. Hibernation takes place on stream bottoms, as wood turtles require an oxygen supply from moving water. They do not bury themselves in the mud, as many turtles do. Wood turtles are omnivores, eating both vegetation and insect larvae. They may live up to 60 years, but getting there isn't easy.
Powell speculates that for roughly every dozen wood turtle eggs in a nest, less than one turtle reaches maturity. As young, their shells are softer and they become easy pray for a variety of birds and small animals. There are few predators to a full-grown wood turtle, who can easily hide inside its protective armor. Unlike many of their animal counterparts, wood turtles do not begin laying eggs until they reach the age of 13 years. Even then, unlike their sea turtle counterparts that lay hundreds of eggs, the wood turtle only lays 10 to 12.
For now, locating and tracking the turtles is Powell's main objective. Eventually, however, when he can substantiate the areas in which the turtles tend to gather, he hopes to put in place protective measures that will ensure the turtles enjoy their chosen habitat for years to come.
What can be done to support Powell's efforts?
"The world is a better place when people are connected to the wilderness around them," Powell said. "Turtles are long-lived creatures. Think of them as individuals. If you have turtles around, get to know them and think about having a longer-term interaction."
Powell also suggests not haying fields that adjoin waterways too close to the ground, as wood turtles move to the grassy areas during the summer. "Don't take turtles out of the wild," he said, "and swerve or straddle to avoid hitting turtles when you are driving." Powell has been known to stop and help a meandering turtle safely cross the road, though that may be risky business for an inexperienced handler as turtles do bite when they are scared.
Powell says he does consider himself a scientist, of sorts. "I am an amateur scientist. I tend to think of myself as more of an advocate," he said. "I have a lot of theories that may or may not be true that I would like to document more closely. There is certainly an element of play. It's an enriching way to spend my time. Fortunately, I get to do my own thing without always having to convince people."
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