One thing that will be tackled this summer is a turtle nursery. If you want to volunteer, please use the comments below.
The Wild Center Is (Was) Making Plans for a Nursery!
The sixteen acres of land that is the Center encompasses part of a marsh and the riparian shoreline. Turtles have been coming out of the marsh onto this land since time immemorial, searching for sunny nesting sites, in easy-to-dig soil. According to the ecological survey that was done before we started fundraising in earnest to purchase the WILD Center land, we have painted turtles and snapping turtles. The nesting area has been located on the east edge of our upland area overlooking the marsh and Little Lake Butte des Morts.
Painted and snapping turtles are frequently seen crossing the hazardous road in front of the WILD Center. The area where the turtles emerge from the water has suffered erosion related to the raising and lowering of the water levels in the lake. The land-use history of our upland area has resulted in compaction of the soil. There was no appropriate soil left on the Center site in which the turtle eggs may be laid and hatch. We found their nests in our loose compost and mulch piles and along the edges of the hard-packed roadway and gardens. The nests that are laid are so shallow that we suspect the successful hatching rate is likely low. Marauding wildlife shares this area with us and the turtles.
We are already planning Citizen Science activity for the newly created area, monitoring nesting activity, and collecting data about our turtle population. It’s possible we may attract the endangered Blanding’s turtle to our site. (We have!)
Dick Nikolai, retired DNR Wildlife Specialist for this area of Wisconsin, had assisted us in developing the nesting site plan. It will be approximately 75 feet long by 35 feet wide by 3 feet deep, with no more than a 15 percent grade. Some soil had to be removed onto the upland, to make room for a retained area of coarse sand, the ideal nesting medium.
While several of our business partners had stepped forward promising materials and helping us formulate plans, we expect the costly part to be engaging the excavating equipment and the transport of the sand. (That’s why we had a lookout in our prairie!)
If you are a member of Wild Ones, read all about it Wild Ones Journal, page 10-11.
The image on the Home page shows two baby painted turtles that look like plastic toys, but they’re not.
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