Blanding's Turtle Research on Ottawa Refuge

In 2019, the Toledo Zoo and the Ohio Biodiversity Conservation Partnership put in a total of 10,097 trap nights at 37 sites across northern Ohio, surveying for Blanding’s Turtles. These efforts resulted in the capture of 190 Blanding’s Turtles as well as 634 Snapping Turtles and 2,000 Painted Turtles. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the largest turtle dataset in the state.
 
Blanding’s Turtles were observed on all the USFWS properties we surveyed and we identified a local hotspot that will be targeted for a long-term assessment. We had a fantastic first year and look forward to expanding upon this in 2020. This project is funded by the USFWS Competitive State Wildlife Grants program and also includes partnerships with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Purdue University – Ft. Wayne, Michigan DNR, and Ohio DOW.
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We are asking the public to help us identify potential survey sites and all Blanding’s Turtle sightings can be reported to: [email protected]

Matt Cross, PhD
Conservation Biologist
Toledo Zoo