Fencing installed to protect turtles
CANTON — More than 120 snapping turtles, painted turtles and Blanding’s turtles have been hit by cars and killed over the course of a year along a stretch of County Route 68 in Canton. A group of conservationists is working to reduce the carnage that occurs ever year during turtle nesting season.
For the past few days, college students and the St. Lawrence County Youth Conservation Corps have been cutting and installing wire fences to prevent turtles from crossing the road. The fences will be a few hundred feet long on both sides of Route 68.
“This was a really bad site,” said Thomas A. Langen, associate professor of biology at Clarkson University, Potsdam, who has been tracking the number of turtles killed along the road. “The number of turtles killed here is very high; the fact that we still have turtles here is, I think, because we have others moving in from farther away.”
Three years ago, Mr. Langen and some of his students put up another fence farther up Route 68 near the Norton Cemetery. It has been effective, according to data collected before and after its construction, he said.
This section of fence has been funded through a grant from the Five-Star Partnership from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and another from the St. Lawrence River Restoration and Education Fund.
But the work does not stop when the fence is up. People still have to come out to monitor the turtles and maintain the fences.
“We repair the fence and we have to mow it so they can’t use the grass to get over it,” said Clarkson senior Cody T. Merrill, Schroon Lake. “My main project is wetland restoration surveying. We basically survey restored wetlands around St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties and then I’m helping with this.”
Eventually, Mr. Langen hopes to be able to put similar fences around the county at designated turtle crossing “hot spots.” Then the fencing may be adopted by a state or federal agency and spread beyond the north country.
“Throughout eastern North America, we’re really at risk of losing turtles, especially in areas where road densities are high and even common populations are becoming rare,” he said.
The fences, which are about 3 feet high and go about 4 inches down into the dirt, keep turtles from crossing the road. When turtles start to nest in June, they often cross the road to get to other nesting sites. They also like to nest near the road because the asphalt warms the ground underneath and nearby.
Because turtles start breeding later in life, large numbers of roadkill can destroy a population. Snapping turtles, which can live to be 100 years old, do not start to breed until they are 18. Painted turtles start at 5 or 6 years old.
They also are an important species to monitor the environmental health.
“Turtles are considered to be a really key group for ecosystem practices in wetlands,” Mr. Langen said. “Usually, when they’re not reduced by roadkill, they are important predators for fish and small insects. They also make really good indicators of toxins because they tend to hold a lot of toxins in their bodies.”
