Conservation Guardians of Northwest Illinois
Turtle Snuffs Out Fire
The Lost Mound prescribed fire program was scheduled to
begin on April 1 with 900 acres to be control
burned. Many preparations had been
completed and Refuge staff eagerly looked
forward to this high intensity activity. Burn
plans had been written, state permits had
been approved, fire control lines had been
established, portable water tankers/pumpers
were filled and ready for action, firefighters
from various stations had been recruited, and
the drip torches, fuel, and tools were loaded
into trucks. The excitement of firefighter
staff could be compared to the night before
Christmas but instead of brilliantly wrapped
gifts, there were visions of flames and smoke
rising from the prairie against a background
of charred cedars and the knowledge that reinvigorated
prairie grasses would soon be
shooting towards the sky.
Then, on March 31, one day before the
torches were lit, I received a numbing
telephone call – Turtle Rangers Pam
Johnson and Beth Pomaro had found
an ornate box turtle emerging from
hibernation. As I hung up the phone, a
great sense of anxiety came over me
as I sat dazed in my office. I had
feared this situation would happen
because there had been near record
warm temperatures since mid-March.
These warm temperatures were the
reason that turtle searches were being
conducted earlier than normal; during
2009, turtles had not started to emerge
until April 17.
My numbness slowly wore off and I
knew there was only one answer –
stop implementation of the burn
program in all Refuge grasslands.
This decision would also impact
burning at the Thomson Research
Natural Area and ultimately affect
over 1,000 acres of planned habitat
restoration for spring 2010. A
feeling of great satisfaction
quickly set in as I realized this was
the reason that we are conducting the
ornate box turtle study in the first
place, so that management
techniques will conserve and
protect this imperiled species.
Box Turtle Population Ups & Downs
The March 31 find of a box turtle
emerging from hibernation at Lost Mound
turned out to be a very significant find. The
turtle was found near the hibernation
location of a turtle (one of only two known
turtles on Lost Mound) that had a radio
transmitter attached. This turtle did not
have a transmitter attached, so it was
initially thought that the turtle had shed the
transmitter during emergence because it
was five feet from the known hibernation
location. Upon examination, we discovered
that this was a new turtle.
This significant find of a new turtle was
exciting because there had previously been
many efforts dating back to the 1990s to
find ornate box turtles with only three
turtles being found – two were in the early
1990s and one in 2009. All of these turtles
were males. The fact that the radioed turtle
had hibernated so close to this newly found
turtle indicates that he probably sought out
(travelled two miles) other turtles in the
neighborhood. This find would help us
concentrate our future search efforts to this
general area amongst the vast 4,000 acres
of sand prairie and would increase our
known box turtle population at Lost
Mound from two to three individuals, a
33% increase!
But the good news was short-lived when
on April 16 researchers found a radio
transmitter minus the turtle (named
Speedy) that it was attached to. The
transmitter had several bite marks,
indicating that a predator (possibly a
coyote or raccoon) may have dined on rare
reptilian cuisine. Hopefully, the turtle
escaped but a search of the area revealed
no trace of the turtle and no turtle
parts. Our known box turtle population
suddenly plummeted back to two turtles,
a 33% reduction!
The Turtledogs Are Comin’
The Tennessee Turtledogs will be bringing
their keen sense of smell to Lost Mound
in May to search for the elusive ornate
box turtle. These specially trained Boykin
spaniels have worked on several eastern
box turtle research projects and annually
sniff out 500-1,000 turtles in other
projects. They will be especially stylish in
their first Illinois appearance with their
specially made Kevlar booties to protect
their feet from the prickly pear cactus!
We have high hopes that the Turtledogs
will find a remnant population of box
turtles at Lost Mound that our human
search efforts have overlooked.
Head-started Turtles
The four headstarted
ornate box turtles
currently being raised at the
Niabi Zoo are scheduled for
release at Lost Mound
during June. These turtles
were hatched in August
2009 and have been raised
in captivity to allow
a d v a n c e d b o d y
development before being
released into the wild. The
10-month-old turtles will
weigh over 100 grams,
which is equal to a 7-8 year
old wild turtle. They will be
affixed with radio transmitters
so that we can monitor their
movements.
— Ed Britton, Wildlife Refuge Manager Upper Mississippi Refuge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
