“You’d be surprised to learn that Western Pond Turtles have not read the abundance of literature written about them,” said Ed Culver, Fisheries Biologist with the East Bay Regional Park District. Ed had just been asked how far Western Pond Turtles, a species of concern across the Western US from Washington down to Baja California, tend to travel over land in search of ponds, streams, food, or mates. Previous scientific studies found these turtles usually travel around a half mile in search of habitat, with the upper limit of around three miles. That is, until last spring when researchers part of the Western Pond Turtle Conservation program at the Alameda County Resource Conservation District (ACRCD) observed one adventurous adult start in a pond in the Sunol Regional Wilderness, then overland travel over seven (yes seven!) miles to the not-quite-nearby Del Valle Regional Park. The Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) will soon start a project to see just how far our own turtles go on their hikes.

In June 2023, the ACRCD began partnering with various institutions, including the Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, and other research groups at universities across the United States, to study the Western Pond Turtle, a candidate species for the Endangered Species Act. Collectively, the groups sought to learn more information about the species to prepare for their potential listing in the future, and to develop management techniques for grazing cattle that supports the conservation of this species through better grazing management, modified grazing regimes, and more.

The CCRCD will start work this summer as part of this collaboration, working with the ACRCD and partners to track Western Pond Turtle traversal in Contra Costa County, affixing GPS or UHF (ultra high frequency) trackers to turtle backs and seeing where they go! We hope this is the first of many projects involving Western Pond Turtles as we join the collaboration to help conserve this species. Read more about the project and effort at the Alameda County RCD website. And stay tuned to see just how far these turtles go!