New Jersey Bog Turtle Conservation Initiative: Working with Landowners and Communities
The Endangered and Nongame Species Program created and is implementing a comprehensive management initiative to provide long term conservation of the important bog turtle populations in New Jersey.
The management initiative consists of four main actions:
- Developing relationships with private landowners that host bog turtles on their land.
- Facilitating the acquisition of sites threatened by adjacent land use activities.
- Performing habitat management and experimenting with new techniques to control and reverse habitat succession and invasive exotic plant proliferation.
- Facilitating long term protection of bog turtle wetlands by working with local communities to implement land use planning changes guided by the Landscape Project.
Landowner Contacts
Since many of the priority bog turtle sites are on private land, the success of any conservation plan depends on the development of relationships with landowners. The landowner contact initiative is well under way. Mostly through personal contacts, landowners learn about bog turtles and the ecological value of their habitats.
The ENSP takes time to walk properties with landowners and address their concerns on a range of wildlife and conservation topics. Good relationships with landowners has created positive habitat management at the best bog turtle sites.
