RCN PHASE 2; PROJECT 1 TURTLES; JOB 4 WOOD & BLANDING'S TURTLE CONSERVATION

This initiative will improve our overall effectiveness in conserving, restoring, and managing landscapes critical for the conservation of Blanding’s and Wood Turtles, and other species as appropriate in conjunction with Wood and Blanding’s Turtles, building upon years of dedicated coordination among Northeastern States to identify the most important landscapes and necessary conservation actions for these at-risk species. As part of Conservation Planning for both species funded through CSWG grants, regional Working Groups have identified critical Focal Core Areas for the conservation of both Blanding’s and Wood Turtles (Figure 2), and have outlined necessary conservation actions within each Blanding’s Turtle focal area. This process was completed in 2014 for Blanding’s Turtle and will be finalized by February 2018 for Wood Turtle. This project will allow one or more dedicated contractors familiar with the Conservation Planning process to work directly with both Working Groups to prioritize, implement, and track the most urgent conservation actions both species at the most important sites across the region. Specifically, RCN funds would support a contracted project coordinator to: (A) coordinate with species Working Groups to prioritize at least 30 sites for the creation of dedicated site management teams; (B) ensure and facilitate the implementation of priority site-specific conservation actions including coordination with land protection committees, habitat restoration, habitat management, site-specific technical assistance to landowners; (C) track conservation actions by States for both species in a spatially-explicit database, monitoring progress on conservation goals and identifying areas in need of assistance; (D) refine, track, implement, and distribute best management practices for habitat management and restoration and population management; (E) expand the capacity of Working Groups to acquire funding.

Non-federal match will be provided by contracted partners and may be in the form of volunteer in-kind contributions of technical assistance to key landowners and agencies (e.g., NRCS), travel, equipment, waived expenses, reduced rates on contractual service, and the development and distribution of updated habitat management BMPs by non-federally funded state agency staff.

This page describes the GSAs that have been developed under Project 1 Job 4. The project reports and final reports for each GSA under Job 4 will be posted on this page.