Western Pond Turtle Monitoring Project
Western pond turtle with GPS transmitter.
Photo by: Matthew Johnson
Plumas Audubon Society, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, conducted a Western pond turtle (Emys marmorata) monitoring project. Western pond turtles are a native freshwater turtle found on the west coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California. Western pond turtles are listed as endangered in Washington, sensitive in Oregon, a species of special concern in California, and designated as a Forest Service sensitive species in all three states, making them an especially important target for monitoring and conservation efforts.
This project focused on turtle monitoring at three specific ponds located above Oroville. One of the ponds was likely developed during historic logging and mining activities and it supports populations of pond turtle and the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii). The two other ponds at this site were built by the Plumas National Forest and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in 2019 to create additional breeding habitat for the threatened red-legged frog.
Six female Western Pond turtles were captured from the original pond by wildlife biologists during fall 2019 and spring 2020, outfitted with transmitters, then released where they were found. Major goals of this project were to identify turtle nesting sites and document turtle use of the new man made ponds.
This project focused on turtle monitoring at three specific ponds located above Oroville. One of the ponds was likely developed during historic logging and mining activities and it supports populations of pond turtle and the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii). The two other ponds at this site were built by the Plumas National Forest and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in 2019 to create additional breeding habitat for the threatened red-legged frog.
Six female Western Pond turtles were captured from the original pond by wildlife biologists during fall 2019 and spring 2020, outfitted with transmitters, then released where they were found. Major goals of this project were to identify turtle nesting sites and document turtle use of the new man made ponds.
