Southeastern Spotted Turtle Working Group

Project Summary: Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata) have declined across their range and are of conservation concern throughout the United States and Canada. They have been identified as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in all 21 states where they occur, are considered Endangered by the IUCN, and are being considered for federal listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as amended. In response to these broad appraisals, a status assessment and Conservation Plan were recently developed for the Spotted Turtle in the eastern United States. We will leverage the findings of this assessment and implement targeted initiatives outlined in the Conservation Plan designed to enhance population size and foster robust metapopulations of Spotted Turtles and associated SGCN in the southeastern U.S., from Florida to West Virginia. To do this, we will seek to identify priority wetland and terrestrial habitats for Spotted Turtles in the southeastern U.S., improve their habitat quality and quantity, and improve awareness of and protection from illegal trade. We will address data gaps in southeastern U.S. Spotted Turtle distribution through continued inter-state collaboration and research (Goal 1), develop long-term demographic assessment sites to evaluate population viability in six states (Goal 2), refine the standard sampling protocol to address detection challenges (Goal 3), provide technical assistance to landowner partners and restore critical habitats (Goals 4 & 5), hold an interagency workshop to combat illegal take of Spotted Turtles and other related freshwater turtle SGCN (Goal 6), update and refine the Conservation Plan with data collected in this project (Goal 7). We anticipate that the results and analyses from this project and the updated Conservation Plan will provide valuable information for the states as they address the listing decision of the USFWS and enable them, the USFWS, and partners to improve populations across the eastern U.S.