Guidelines for Landowners in Residential Areas
Landowner guidelines for improving habitat for the Western Painted Turtle in urban and rural areas
Get to know your turtles
- Learn how to identify native Western Painted Turtle from introduced sliders (see ID Sheet)
- Document species and numbers of turtles using your property
- Document observations with photos when possible
- If you have turtles on your property, note when turtles appear in the spring and when they disappear in the fall
- What information is needed? The main information is date, location, your name or contactl, and photo of the turtle you saw; additional information such as the time of day or weather conditions are useful but not essential (link to datasheet)
Pond habitat enhancement
- Manage shoreline and pond vegetation
- Increase exposure of the pond to sunlight by trimming shoreline trees or shrubs
- Encourage or plant native shore-line or aquatic plants
- Add soil to increase productivity
- Control in-growth of pond by vegetation
- Maintain or improve water quality
- Reduce or re-direct run-off
- Reduce eutrophication
- Maintain septic systems in good working order
- Maintain or improve pond structure and accessibility to turtles
- Increase deeper areas and clear vegetation from ponds that are in-grown with vegetation
- Create shallow areas and make steep banks more gentle in portions of the pond
- Maintain accessibility of turtles to nesting areas on land; where shoreline walls or other barriers exist, create gaps
- Install turtle basking sites
- Install basking platforms or logs in sunniest areas of the pond and anchor them into the bottom or shoreline vegetation
- Slanted basking structures are encouraged as they allow the turtles to climb up entirely or completely out of the water
- Minimize disturbance
- Retain a portion of the shoreline inaccessible; avoid circling the entire perimeter with trails or manicured lawns/gardens
- Place docks and viewing points in selected accessible areas of the shoreline
Nesting habitat enhancement
- Maintain or enhance existing nesting areas
- Identify nesting habitats on the property, so that disturbance from construction and yard maintenance activities can be avoided
- Maintain open nature of the nesting area to ensure a good exposure to sunlight
- Maintain sparse ground cover and open, non-vegetated patches; weeding may be necessary at an appropriate time - PS. after previous year's hatchlings have emerged but before females have started nesting in spring.
- Monitor the effectiveness of the actions
- Create new nesting habitat
- Select an exposed, sunny and safe site close to water (but above flood level)and accessible to turtles; avoid sites where turtles have to cross a road
- Clear the site from vegetation and bring in sandy substrates, as needed.
- Construction can take place anytime but is best done shortly before the nesting season in spring
- Maintain the site clear of weeds and disturbance - Monitor the use of the site by turtles
- Protect nesting sites from disturbance
- Place docks and other structures away from nesting areas and redirect paths
- Fence nesting habitat or individual nests, if needed, but ensure that turtles can move freely under the fence
- Manage pets and prevent them from digging and running in nesting areas
Monitor effectiveness of restored habitats
- Document turtles using the restored basking sites or nesting areas
- Record numbers of turtles or their sign seen at restored sites
- Document your observations with photos when possible
- Document condition of the restored habitat
- Do the sites remain functional over time? - Was any action, such as weeding of the nesting areas, undertaken?
Mitigating road mortality
- Discourage turtles from nesting in unsafe locations, such as busy parking sites or driveways
- In some cases where turtles are nesting in unsafe sites such as roads, turtles can be discouraged from nesting there and new nesting habitat can be created nearby
- Inform family, friends, and visitors of the possible presence of turtles on roads, especially during the nesting season in spring
- Place turtle crossing signs where turtles are seen crossing roads