RICHMOND,
Vt.— 9/17/15 In response to a petition from the Center for Biological
Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that the wood turtle may qualify for Endangered Species Act protection. The Center first petitioned
for this turtle — along with more than 50 other amphibians and reptiles
— in July 2012 because habitat loss and other factors are threatening
them with extinction.
Wood turtle photo by Diane Baedeker Petit, USDA. This photo is available for media use.
“Wood
turtles are dying out mostly because people are degrading the waterways
where they live,” said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist in the
Center’s Northeast office. “The streams and rivers used by wood turtles
are important for people too, for recreation and as a water supply.
Endangered Species Act protection for this turtle will help protect
these essential areas from destruction.”
Hurt
by channelization of rivers and streams, careless timber-harvesting
practices along waterways, urbanization and agricultural practices,
including pesticide use, the wood turtles’ remaining populations tend to
be isolated, greatly reducing the chances of their natural recovery in
areas where their numbers have plummeted. Traditionally low survival
rates among juvenile wood turtles have been made worse by the increased
prevalence of turtle predators, such as raccoons and skunks, which
thrive in urbanized areas. Wild collection for the pet trade is another
threat to the turtle’s survival.
“Wood
turtles are integral parts of the wild where they live, whether it’s a
remote forest stream or a suburban wetland,” said Matteson. “Losing them
will impoverish those places and our own connection with the natural
world.”
Nearly
1 in 4 amphibians and reptiles is at risk of dying out, scientists say.
In fact, although they’ve been around for hundreds of millions of years
and survived every major extinction period, amphibians and reptiles are
now dying off at up to 10,000 times the historic extinction rate due
largely to human impacts. This loss is alarming because they play
important roles as predators and prey in their ecosystems and are
valuable indicators of environmental health.
The
Center was joined in its petition for 53 amphibians and reptiles by
several renowned scientists and herpetologists, including E.O. Wilson,
Thomas Lovejoy and Michael Lannoo. More than 200 scientists sent a letter asking the Service to review the status of the petitioned animals.
Today’s
“90-day finding” is the first in a series of required decisions on the
petition. At the 90-day finding stage, the Fish and Wildlife Service
determines whether the petition presents sufficient information to
warrant further consideration, a process that requires few agency
resources. Earlier this year the Service issued positive 90-day findings
for 20 other amphibians and reptiles. The next step is a full status
review of the species by the Service.
View an interactive state-by-state map showing where the petitioned species live and download a photo
of the wood turtle for media use. Wood turtles are found in
Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
For Immediate Release, September 17, 2015
Contact: Mollie Matteson, (802) 318-1487; mmatteson@biologicaldiversity.org
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