Western Pond Turtle Head-starting and Reintroduction; 2003-2004 Annual Report.

Abstract

This report covers the results of the western pond turtle head-starting and reintroduction project for the period of October 2003-September 2004. Wild hatchling western pond turtles from the Columbia River Gorge were reared at the Woodland Park and Oregon Zoos in 2003 and 2004 as part of the recovery effort for this Washington State endangered species. The objective of the program is to reduce losses to introduced predators like bullfrogs and largemouth bass by raising the hatchlings to a size where they are too large to be eaten by most of these predators. Sixty-nine turtles were over-wintered at the Woodland Park Zoo and 69 at the Oregon Zoo. Of these, 136 head-started juvenile turtles were released at three sites in the Columbia Gorge in 2004. Two were held back to attain more growth in captivity. Thirty-four were released at the Klickitat ponds, 19 at the Klickitat lake, 21 at the Skamania site, and 62 at Pierce National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). This brought the total number of head-start turtles released since 1991 to 246 for the Klickitat ponds, 114 for the Klickitat lake, 167 for the Skamania pond complex, and 250 at Pierce NWR. In 2004, 32 females from the twomore » Columbia Gorge populations were equipped with transmitters and monitored for nesting activity. Twenty-one of the females nested and produced 85 hatchlings. The hatchlings were collected in September and October and transported to the Woodland Park and Oregon zoos for rearing in the head-start program. Data collection for a four-year telemetry study of survival and habitat use by juvenile western pond turtles at Pierce NWR concluded in 2004. Radio transmitters on study animals were replaced as needed until all replacements were in service; afterward, the turtles were monitored until their transmitters failed. The corps of study turtles ranged from 39 in August 2003 to 2 turtles at the end of August 2004. These turtles showed the same seasonal pattern of movements between summer water and upland winter habitats observed in previous years. During the 2004 field season trapping effort, 345 western pond turtles were captured in the Columbia Gorge, including 297 previously head-started turtles. These recaptures, together with confirmed nesting by head-start females and visual resightings, indicate the program is succeeding in boosting juvenile recruitment to increase the populations. Records were also collected on 224 individual painted turtles captured in 2004 during trapping efforts at Pierce NWR, to gather baseline information on this native population. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) funded approximately 60% of program activities in the Columbia River Gorge from October 2003 through September 2004.« less