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Home , Chelydra, Chicken turtle, Common snapping turtle, Macrochelys, Mississippi map turtle

NORTH REFUGES COMPLEX: FRESHWATER INVENTORY

USFWS Award No: F17PX01556

John L. Carr, Aaron C. Johnson & J. Benjamin Grizzle

November 2020 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the U.S. and Wildlife Service Region 4 Inventory and Monitoring Branch for USFWS Award No. F17PX01556, “Freshwater Turtle Inventory of the North Louisiana Refuges Complex”. In addition, this report incorporates data from other, complementary projects that were funded by a variety of sources. This has been done in to provide a more fulsome picture of knowledge on the turtle fauna of the refuges within the Complex. These other projects were funded in part by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Federal Aid, through the State Wildlife Grants Program (series of projects targeting the Alligator Snapping Turtle and map ). Other sources include data collected for grant activities funded by USGS-BRD (Cooperative Agreement No. 99CRAG0017), funding from the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation beginning in 1998, funding directly from LDWF (2000-2002), The Nature Conservancy (contract #LAFO_022309), Friends of Black Bayou, the Turtle Research Fund of the University of Louisiana at Monroe Foundation, and the Kitty DeGree Professorship in Biology (2011-2017).

U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel helped facilitate our work by granting access to all parts of the refuges at various times, and providing a series of Special Use Permits over 20+ years. We acknowledge Lee Fulton, Joe McGowan, Brett Hortman, Kelby Ouchley, and George Chandler for facilitating our work on refuges over the years; in particular, we thank Gypsy Hanks for long-sustained support and cooperation, especially during the course of the current project. James and Treasa Barrett kindly provided access to Handy Brake NWR via private property. Many students and former students helped with fieldwork, and we gratefully acknowledge their help: Eli Greenbaum, Phillip Paul, Darah Coley, Michelle Tham, Amanda Rosenzweig, Jason Hatfield, Jason Courtney, Lori White, Lauren Besenhofer, Amity Bass, Sam Holcomb, Mitch Ray, Charles Battaglia, Lisa Brown, Clayton Faidley, María Blanco-Pérez, Ashley Triplett, Sonia Morrone, Gabrialle Gonzalez, Amy Shook, Natalia Rivera, Aaryn Letson, Chris Rice, Nora Smith, and Matthew Reid. Fellow faculty members helped at various times in a variety of ways, including Drs. Neil Douglas, Joydeep Bhattacharjee, Sean Chenoweth, Kim M. Tolson, and Ricky Fiorillo. External colleagues and collaborators on earlier projects we thank include Michael Dreslik, Jeff Boundy, Mike Ewert, and J. Brent Harrel.

A number of people helped with useful information about turtle and the environment in the northern region of the state, including Bob Rickett, Hank Ray, Charles Wilson, Martha Ann Messinger, and George Patton. Jeff Barnhill helped with photo documentation of the Southern at Irvine Lake.

2 INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND

The four refuges sampled are located in three contiguous parishes, Morehouse, Ouachita, and Union. These components of the North Louisiana Refuges (NLR) Complex are located on both sides of the Ouachita River as it flows south out of Arkansas. Black Bayou Lake NWR and Handy Brake NWR are east of the river, D’Arbonne is entirely west of the river, and Upper Ouachita NWR straddles the river. All four refuges occupy a location along the western margin of the Alluvial Valley where it meets more upland areas associated with the Upper West Gulf Coast Plain Ecoregion (TNC #40), or South Central Plains (Daigle et al., 2006). Within refuge boundaries, there is relatively little upland area and the available water bodies that provide for the aquatic turtle species occupy lower elevation sites more closely associated with the floodplains. In spite of this, the upland areas provide habitat for critical aspects of the life cycle or annual activities. All female turtles seek terrestrial sites for laying. In addition, two of the aquatic species (Mississippi Mud Turtle and Western ) are known to estivate and overwinter on land, sometimes at some distance from the water and for months-long periods (McKnight et al., 2015; Meshaka et al., 2017). For a wide spectrum of North American freshwater turtles, including all 10 of the genera present in northern Louisiana, Steen et al. (2012) recommended the width of a terrestrial buffer around water bodies of 93 m for 50% coverage and 198 m for 90% coverage of —this would encompass habitat for sites, females in search of nest sites, and hatchling dispersal from the nest site to water. Fourteen species of turtles are known from the northern region of Louisiana in the project area (Boundy and Carr, 2017). A fifteenth species ( geographica) was recorded based on only one juvenile specimen from the 1960s, and it was recently considered extirpated after 55+ years without any additional records (Carr et al., 2020). The 14 species are divided among four families of turtles: the softshell turtles (), mud and musk turtles (), snapping turtles (), and the and river turtles () (Table 1). Five of these aquatic turtles— (S2; Deirochelys reticularia miaria), Alligator Snapping Turtle (S3; temminckii), (S3; Graptemys ouachitensis), Razor-backed Musk Turtle (S4; carinatus), Smooth Softshell (S3; mutica)—are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the current Louisiana Wildlife Action Plan and appear as focal species for Research and Survey efforts (Holcomb et al., 2015). This diverse array of aquatic turtles (13 of 14) occupies the complete spectrum of available aquatic from large, lotic rivers to various lentic bodies of water including extensive swamps and lakes down to the size of small, ephemeral wetlands. In addition, one of the 14 species is a terrestrial species inhabiting forested areas (Three-toed ). All of these habitats are available on NLR Complex properties. Early work on turtle communities within Louisiana did touch on the northern part of the state, but did not include our focal area (Cagle and Chaney, 1950). Sloan and Taylor (1987) were the first to focus on a local species at a site that is now part of Black Bayou Lake NWR; followed by a series of papers on the Alligator Snapping Turtle from the immediate environs of the refuge (Harrel et al., 1996, 1997; Harrel and Stringer, 1997). We began working at the property now incorporated in Black Bayou Lake NWR in 1996 and it has been a major focus of our lab’s

3 research, as well as a local site convenient for outdoor activities with students. We have had funding for and focused on the ecology of the Alligator Snapping Turtle, resulting in several publications (Carr et al., 2011; Holcomb and Carr, 2011a, 2011b, 2013) and project reports (Carr et al., 2007, 2010). Other publications and reports have included data on turtles we collected at Black Bayou Lake NWR (Steen et al., 2012, Carr and Tolson, 2017), or have been part of a more wide scale project (Dreslik et al., 2017), or were focused on other species, such as map turtles (Carr, 2001; Carr et al., 2020). In addition to the extensive work over a long period at Black Bayou Lake NWR, we were involved with a multi-year project to survey the herpetofauna of Upper Ouachita NWR in the region of the Mollicy Farm wetland restoration project from 2009- 2013, which included a substantial amount of effort on aquatic turtles (Carr et al., 2013). With this background, we felt well positioned to work on a NLR Complex turtle survey.

Objectives • inventory the freshwater turtle species for each of these four refuges by sampling the spectrum of water body types available on each refuge o Black Bayou Lake NWR o D’Arbonne Bayou NWR o Handy Brake NWR o Upper Ouachita NWR

Challenges to Achieving the Objectives The weather and Ouachita River level proved the greatest obstacles to accessing major parts of Upper Ouachita NWR and D’Arbonne NWR for long periods into the active season in both 2019 and 2020. The previous year, in 2018, extremely low water levels due to a Ouachita River drawdown severely limited boat launch access in the same areas. Handy Brake NWR access proved to be a challenge after the parish road on the east side of the refuge was closed to public use in early 2018. We later gained access through the Barrett property after the University agreed to and signed a liability waiver. Black Bayou Lake NWR had no problems with access; however, we experienced some delays due to boat repairs.

Study Sites Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge (BBLNWR) lies between Bayou DeSiard and a Pleistocene Terrace extending south from the Bastrop Hills in Ouachita Parish. Black Bayou Lake is the central feature of the refuge and is a bald cypress-tupelo swamp that encompasses roughly 2000 acres (910 ha). The lake is composed of a backswamp and a rimswamp. The backswamp area of the central and western lake area would have experienced seasonal water fluctuations and been subject to flooding from Bayou DeSiard (Wang, 1952; Saucier, 1994). The western portion of the lake is bounded by the Louisiana-Arkansas- Railway (UPRR 2005), which was completed and operational as of 1908 connecting Monroe, Louisiana to Hamburg, Arkansas. In this area, the railroad causeway dams up the western portion of the lake and contains a water control structure operated by the City of Monroe. Previously, water flowed freely between adjacent areas of the lake and Bayou DeSiard at Hanna’s Run by way of 1.5 m culverts (Sloan and Taylor 1987)—Alligator Snapping Turtles were found moving back

4 and forth between lake and bayou. A new control structure was put in service as of February 1999, and water is able to flow from the lake into the bayou. There are small areas of the lake west of the causeway in the northwest corner of the lake that fluctuate in level extensively. With respect to the main part of the lake, the general trend appears to have been increasingly stable water levels over the past century, particularly the last 20 years. D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR) has as its central feature Bayou D’Arbonne upstream from its confluence with the Ouachita River. The refuge is divided between Union and Ouachita parishes. There is a single major tributary to Bayou D’Arbonne, Bayou Choudrant, that enters in the southwestern corner of the refuge. The extensive floodplain of Bayou D’Arbonne is found between narrow upland areas at the margins of the refuge to the east and west. Numerous sloughs, overflow swamps, and lakes are located between the bayou and the uplands (USFWS, 2006). Water levels within the refuge are subject to the levels maintained by the Columbia Lock and Dam to the south on the Ouachita River (USFWS, 2006). Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge (HBNWR) is found in Morehouse Parish, sitting at the base of the Bastrop Hills at the western edge of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The single major water feature is the brake, which appears to be an isolated wetland several kilometers distant from Bayou Bartholomew. It is said to be permanent water (USFWS, 2008). Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge (UONWR) straddles the Ouachita River in northern Louisiana just below the Arkansas border in Union and Morehouse parishes near the northwest margin of the Alluvial Plain Ecoregion (TNC #42) where it meets the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain Ecoregion (TNC #40) (USFWS, 2008). It was the site of a large bottomland hardwood forest restoration effort centered on the Mollicy Unit east of the Ouachita River within the ring levee, with about 9,200 acres reforested from 1997–2001 (USFWS, 2008), and more recently of a major hydrological restoration effort (Ferber 2010, Weber et al 2012). Historically, a large section of Upper Ouachita NWR, including the majority of the Mollicy Unit within the levee, coincides with the hypothesized basin of Paleolake Monroe (Washington 2001). The extent to which this historic, hydrologic feature may have influenced faunal communities in the immediate environs of the former lake bed is unknown, but one can imagine it made a significant difference to aquatic turtle assemblages. Paleolake Monroe is thought to have drained only about 5,000 years ago, and perhaps its former presence in the direct line of the Ouachita River still has residual effects on the composition of turtle assemblages. Currently, the refuge is affected by water releases from dams upstream on the Ouachita River, including the Felsenthal Dam, and the low water level is controlled by the Columbia Lock and Dam downstream of the refuge nearly 100 miles (USFWS, 2008).

5 MATERIALS & METHODS

A combination of techniques and trap types (Graeter, 2013) was used to capture the full diversity of turtle species present. We used a combination of turtle trapping, basking turtle surveys, and nest surveys to look for the presence of turtles in various bodies of water and the adjoining terrestrial environments.

Aquatic Trapping We used a variety of turtle traps and other aquatic traps capable of catching turtles (Vogt 2016). This included both baited (hoop nets and others) and unbaited traps (e.g., fyke nets). Five aquatic trapping techniques were employed: turtle traps (collapsible hoop nets, 20” to 4’ in diameter), fyke nets (25” or 3’ in diameter), aquatic drift fences with funnel traps, collapsible turtle traps (rectangular boxes), and minnow traps. Turtle traps consisted of 5 fiberglass hoops with a 50 cm diameter, 2.5 cm mesh nylon netting, and an entrance funnel on each end, or 4 fiberglass or steel hoops with a 1.2 m diameter and 3.8 or 4.8 cm mesh, and one entrance funnel. The small traps were baited with canned sardines or buffalo parts (Ictiobus sp.), or only buffalo in the large traps. In either case, the bait was replaced every day during a trapping session. Fyke nets consisted of either 61 or 90 cm diameter hoop nets with a single entrance; however, two of these were connected by a nylon mesh lead of either ~5 m (smaller size) or 15 m (larger size). Aquatic drift fences consisted of an approximately 4 m long piece of black, plastic silt fencing with two single-ended funnel traps (mesh size: 6 mm; hoop diameter: 50 cm), one at each end of the fence. Fyke nets and aquatic drift fences are passive forms of trapping in which the would enter the trap while travelling, rather than being attracted to bait. Collapsible turtle traps were 46 by 20 cm, box-shaped traps when fully erected, with 6 mm mesh plastic netting. This type of trap was also baited with sardines as indicated above. Minnow traps are made of galvanized 0.6 cm mesh hardware cloth cylinders, 42 cm long, 23 cm in diameter, with 2.5 cm openings at each end. This type of trap is also baited, or may be used passively, but is considered self-baiting; with respect to turtles it is only useful for small juveniles and hatchlings. The number of traps set was determined by several factors, such as: the amount of water present at the site during the trapping season (over the course of this study, drought rendered certain sites unavailable or completely unusable), the number of traps available (a few catastrophic weather events left some traps stranded for weeks at a time), and the usefulness of the trap at that sample site (if the water levels were low then the number of minnow traps and collapsible turtle traps was increased in order to replace the deeper water traps that could not be set). In order to avoid mortality of captured , the traps were checked every other day while deployed. We hoped to trap at least 20 sites across the NLR Complex, including both lotic and lentic sites as available on the refuges. Over the two-year period, we anticipated sampling each site at least three times with an equal amount of effort. We did not achieve that goal given the logistical constraints and time constraints we experienced. Although we hoped for trapping at least five consecutive days for approximately 50 trap-nights per session, this was not achieved

6 consistently; but we always kept track of the effort in terms of trap-nights and comparisons are possible on a catch-per-unit-effort basis (CPUE) in number of turtles per trap-night.

Basking In open riverine and lake sites, spotting scope surveys (Buhlmann 2013) were used to sample the basking turtle assemblage instead of (Ouachita River), or in addition to trapping (Bayou D’Arbonne).

Nest Survey Transects and Incidentals We made repeated trips to 1 km transects demarcated at Black Bayou Lake NWR set up specifically to look for signs of turtle nesting around water bodies. These are visual encounter surveys (VES). Some nest surveys were made to Upper Ouachita NWR and D’Arbonne NWR to visit specific areas of interest and typically only happened one time, although some were repeated in consecutive years. The nesting data was mapped separately, but other observations made during these surveys were considered incidental observations. Incidental observations included live animals, dead animals (), and basking observations. In addition, captures and encounters while on foot or driving around a refuge were recorded as incidentals. In the course of nesting surveys, the most commonly encountered evidence of nesting is a destroyed, depredated nest with scattered eggshells. Less effort is made to identify the predator based on signs (e.g., tracks), but some observations are occasionally made and detailed in the Results. Most effort is expended on identification of the eggshell remains; however, there are serious limitations. Intact can be identified to one of the four turtle families with certainty based on the shape of the eggs and the nature of the eggshell (Ewert, 1979). This simple table has the essential features. Within a , the specific species cannot usually be determined with certainty because the only differences are in average size of the eggs; any such identification is an inference. In the case of the Emydidae and Kinosternidae, there are three or more species in our area and eggshells alone are insufficient to determine eve the . In the Trionychidae and Chelydridae in our area, there are only two species each and the species and their eggs are significantly different in size, on average. In the case of the softshells, there is a size overlap zone where large A. mutica eggs overlap with small A. spinifera eggs; however, generally anything 29 mm or larger is A. spinifera, and 24 mm or less is A. mutica (JLC, unpublished data). Much the same is true for the snapping turtles—C. serpentina eggs are smaller, around 30 mm in diameter, and M. temminckii eggs are closer to 40 mm in diameter (JLC, unpublished). With an intact nest (especially emydids and kinosternids), incubating the eggs to hatching is the only way to be sure of identification to species.

Egg Shell Feature Trionychidae Chelydridae Kinosternidae Emydidae shape spherical spherical ovoidal ovoidal shell texture rigid/brittle hard-expansible rigid/brittle pliable/leathery

We downloaded GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) data to supplement our observations and have included them on maps as incidental observations. We did this because we found it convenient to use iNaturalist to record incidental observations, which are

7 subsequently shared with GBIF, through whose portal it is recommended that data be downloaded. In downloading our own data, we found some other informative records and included them as well (GBIF, 2020).

8 RESULTS

During the project period, we trapped 28 sites for 1545 trap-nights. We made new basking observations along four large water bodies on three refuges, and by including previously collected data, we can add three more sites—a total of 797 basking turtle observations. In addition, we conducted a number of surveys to look for evidence of turtle nesting around bodies of water during which we found 166+ turtle nests on three refuges. Tabulated results are presented below in Tables 1-10, and distribution records of species for each refuge appear in Maps 1-42. Our results reflect the documentation of 13 of the 14 species during the project period (2017-2020). We detected 10 aquatic species by trapping, although two of those are typically not well represented among captures using baited traps and they were caught in very low numbers (≤ 5; concinna and Graptemys p. kohnii). We detected two additional species with basking surveys (i.e., Graptemys ouachitensis and Apalone mutica); however, only in association with the main stem of the Ouachita River in Upper Ouachita NWR. The thirteenth species detected was the terrestrial Three-toed Box Turtle (Terrapene c. triunguis), which was only detected by incidental encounters while walking or driving around a refuge. The fourteenth species, the Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria) was not detected by any means during the project period despite specific efforts in the two Complex refuges where they were previously reported (Carr and Tolson, 2017; Ouchley, pers. comm.). Table 1 contains an overview of the 14 turtle species and their means of detection on each refuge; details of turtle observations by refuge and species are found in the sections below organized by refuge. Specific information gaps with respect to the refuge CCPs (USFWS, 2006, 2008, 2010), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service work objectives (USFWS, 2016) , and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Wildlife Action Plan (Holcomb et al., 2015) include the following, which will be addressed in the refuge specific sections below.

• BBL-CCP: Obj. A-12 (Herpetofaunal Inventory) & A-13 (Alligator Snapping Turtles) • D’Arbonne-CCP: Resident Wildlife Obj. 3 (Herpetofaunal Inventory) & Obj. 5 (Alligator Snapping Turtles) • UO&HB-CCP: Obj. A-15 (Herpetofaunal Inventory/List) & A-16 (Alligator Snapping Turtles) • Two species known from NLR Complex refuges—Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria) and Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)—were proposed for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act in response to petitions (CBD, 2010, 2012). • Five species known from the region of the NLR Complex—Western Chicken Turtle (S2), Alligator Snapping Turtle (S3), Ouachita Map Turtle (S3; Graptemys ouachitensis), Razor- backed Musk Turtle (S4; Sternotherus carinatus), Smooth Softshell (S3; Apalone mutica)— are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in the revised Louisiana Wildlife Action Plan and appear as focal species for Research and Survey efforts (Holcomb et al., 2015).

9 Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Twelve species have been documented from the refuge within the past 25 years (Carr and Bass, 2007). Ten turtle species were detected during the project period (2018-2020), in addition to which we have included two previously recorded species (Tables 1, 2, 6, 7 & 9). Based on our extensive prior work on this refuge, we have included in our maps detections from prior years and have included some of the data in the tabular compilations. These allow us to provide a more fulsome picture of the distribution of species on the refuge.

Trapping We conducted 17 trapping sessions for 820 trap-nights at 12 locations (Table 5). Around 200 turtles were captured (209), with a CPUE of 0.255 turtles/trap-night. We caught six turtle species out of the 10 caught using traps across the entire NLR Complex. Among them, we caught one SGCN species (Alligator Snapping Turtle). We caught Alligator Snapping Turtles in Bayou DeSiard immediately adjacent to the refuge, as well as in the main section of the lake. In addition, we documented their presence in peripheral areas—one was captured in the South Overflow area not far from the parking lot (does not even appear to be in water on our map), and one was captured in the isolated section at the NW corner of the lake on the west side of the railway. Both adults and juveniles were captured, and Black Bayou Lake had among the highest Alligator Snapping Turtle CPUE values in Louisiana (Carr et al., 2020b); however, the ratio of juveniles to adults in the population is significantly skewed and of concern (Johnson, 2020). Other than Alligator Snapping Turtles (24 captured) in the main portion of the lake, only two other species were caught in low numbers (≤ 2)—Spiny Softshells and Red-eared Sliders— in the same traps in the same areas. Shallow peripheral areas of the lake like the Boardwalk area, Observation Tower, and Photo Blind Pond are where the three species, , Mississippi Mud Turtle, and Stinkpot, were found in association with the nearly ubiquitous Red-eared Slider. Two species not recorded by trapping during this project, but previously known to be present were the Southern Painted Turtle and Western Chicken Turtle. Western Chicken Turtles were only detected twice on the refuge as incidentals while conducting nesting surveys in 2002 and 2003 (2 females, both gravid; Carr and Tolson, 2017) along the railway corridor in the NW corner of the lake. There are also a number of museum records of the species at the Monroe Fish Hatchery in the 1960s, which is immediately adjacent to refuge property (which now includes some former hatchery ). The same stretch of railway is where an incidental Southern Painted Turtle was recovered ~1998. We specifically targeted shallow areas east and west of the railway for trapping, including the use of fyke nets that are usually recommended for trapping Chicken Turtles (Dinkelacker and Hilzinger, 2014). We did not detect any individuals of either turtle species. We also targeted the area of the Observation Tower, an area where it used to be easy to see one or more Southern Painted Turtles basking as recently as 2006-2008, and the only site where we trapped a specimen in the past. We did not detect any Southern Painted Turtles; however, it was an interesting site in terms of the relative abundance of Mississippi Mud Turtles (45% of total turtle captures), outnumbering the usually dominant Red-eared Sliders.

10 Alligators were detected as by-catch in significant numbers in various parts of Black Bayou Lake and Bayou DeSiard. In addition, we saw them or had traps damaged by them in areas where none were caught, e.g., the South Overflow. The Alligator CPUE was 0.037, more than double the Alligator by-catch CPUE on the other two refuges where we incidentally captured Alligators in turtle traps (Handy Brake and Upper Ouachita). The abundance of Alligators may be related to the apparent absence of two turtle species previously know from the refuge. Western Chicken Turtles are known to inhabit ephemeral bodies of water (McKnight et al., 2015; Ryberg et al., 2017), which are not preferred by Alligators. They are distinctive among the other emydid turtles in having rapid growth coupled with a relatively short life span, and the strongly developed behavior of leaving the water in summer and estivating on land—coupled with winter torpor (McKnight et al., 2015). The bony shell of Deirochelys is particularly thin compared to related emydids that live in the same general areas (Graptemys, Pseudemys, ). This is among the suite of adaptations suggested to go along with life in shallow, ephemeral bodies of water and the avoidance of Alligators (Ewert et al., 2006). The only place where we found Southern Painted Turtles during this project, Upper Ouachita NWR, was in a site where we never recorded Alligators (Carr et al., 2013; see below and Table 5).

Basking Surveys We conducted relatively few basking turtle surveys at this refuge; only four surveys at two sites (including data from 1999 and 2019; Tables 6 & 7). We never recorded any data concerning basking from the Observation Tower (see above), and we have recorded the same set of species usually encountered together in the lake by other means, and we have included several basking observations on maps that were made as incidental observations during nesting transect surveys (see below). Three species of emydids that routinely occur in association with one another were observed in the lake and along Bayou DeSiard, i.e., Red-eared Sliders, River Cooters, and Mississippi Map Turtles. Other observations of basking not recorded during the project period include basking Alligator Snapping Turtles (Carr et al., 2011) and basking Spiny Softshells (unpublished work based on camera-trapping, 2013); however, these do not add to the geographic extent of those species known locations within the lake.

Transects Nest survey transects were first employed at Black Bayou Lake NWR in 2002 on request of USFWS personnel in relation to Alligator Snapping Turtles. We have now compiled most of the data from those surveys during the period 2004-2015; there were no data collected from 2016-2019. Location data from pre-project period surveys were used in the maps, but data from 2020 is the only data included in maps and a table in this report (Table 9). We set up three transects (1 km each); two that were used for many years along the northwestern margin of the lake—railway transect and the peninsula that projects into the lake east of the railway opposite the Old Hatchery Ponds. We set up a transect along Bayou DeSiard in an effort to document use of the refuge’s terrestrial environment next to the body of water. We patrolled each transect on foot on a rotating basis, usually only one of the three per day, but occasionally two of them. We visited nearly every day in April and the first half of May, and tapered off thereafter; the last was in June. We documented extensive depredation of nests of Spiny Softshells and Alligator

11 Snapping Turtles in the usual places along the shore of the NW corner of the lake. We recorded 10 depredated Alligator Snapping Turtle nests, plus two females in the process of nesting. Those two nests were removed to the laboratory for incubation (60 eggs)—49 hatchlings were returned to the lake in October. The 12 documented nests is within the same range of the number of nests we have noted for those two transects for most of two decades (~10-15). We also encountered a few other live turtles along the two transects of species we recorded from trapping sites nearby (Common Snapping Turtle, Stinkpot, Red-eared Slider), as well as a few depredated shells of the usual three emydids (Red-eared Slider, , ), plus many Stinkpots (12). We also recorded a single depredated Common Snapping Turtle nest on the peninsula. The Bayou DeSiard transect was entirely new. By comparison to the other two transects, we made relatively few turtle observations; none of live turtles on land to nest. We did observe the usual three emydid species in the water near the bank (Red-eared Slider, River Cooter, Mississippi Map Turtle), and found one depredated Red-eared Slider shell. The best find was the carapace of a Razor-backed Musk Turtle. The shell had been there some time and exhibited signs of rodent chewing. This was only the second time we had found the species on the refuge—the other was a record of a depredated shell found by Hanna’s Run in the late 1990s (not mapped). Although not unexpected, it was confirmation of the species on refuge property (probably depredated while nesting), a species we otherwise did not document by trapping or basking surveys in Bayou DeSiard (despite being well-known in the bayou).

Incidentals The Three-toed Box Turtle was recorded at scattered sites around the refuge as incidentals. As noted previously, observations of dead or live turtles during a transect survey appear on the maps as incidentals.

D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge

Ten turtle species were detected during the project period (Tables 1, 3, 6, 7 & 10). In addition, we recorded an eleventh species by inclusion of detections from the map turtle project (Carr et al., 2020) to fill out the taxonomic and geographic breadth of sampling.

Trapping We conducted six trapping sessions for 224 trap-nights at six locations (Table 3). A little more than 100 turtles were captured (106), with a CPUE of 0.47 turtles/trap-night. Seven of 10 turtle species caught using traps across the entire NLR Complex were captured on this refuge. Among them, we caught one SGCN species (Razor-backed Musk Turtle), which was caught in Bayou D’Arbonne. Three species were captured in Bayou D’Arbonne only. Both the Razor-backed Musk Turtles and Spiny Softshells represented 18% of the total catch there. A single River Cooter was captured in Bayou D’Arbonne with a baited trap, an infrequent occurrence for this ‘herbivorous’ species. Among the other turtle species, Common Snapping Turtles were captured in the smaller bodies of water associated with Lake Drain Rd—Cypress Creek and

12 Water Elm Pond. Mississippi Mud Turtles were also abundant (36%) in the Cypress Creek sampling, the same place where Common Snapping Turtles (43%) were relatively abundant. Stinkpots were caught at four of six trapping sites and constituted the second most abundant species overall in refuge trapping. Red-eared Sliders were captured at all sites on the refuge and constituted the most abundant species in the D’Arbonne trapping. Alligators were not detected as by-catch during our trapping on the refuge, although they are reported to be present in Bayou D’Arbonne (USFWS, 2006).

Basking Surveys We conducted 21 basking surveys at six sites (counting all years; see Tables 6 & 7). We concentrated on the main stem of Bayou D’Arbonne as the central water feature of the refuge, with one site in a backwater area off to the side of the main channel. Of the eight turtle species observed across the entire NLR Complex during basking surveys, we made observations of six on D’Arbonne NWR. Three species were observed in very low numbers (1 or 2). This includes the Southern Painted Turtle; a backwater observation of one individual made in 1998— unfortunately, we did not sample similar habitat during basking surveys in recent years. The two musk turtle species were also detected in low numbers in Bayou D’Arbonne; only one Stinkpot, which is relatively infrequent in basking observations (Carr et al., 2020), and two Razor-backed Musk Turtles, an SGCN species we also detected by trapping (see above). Three species were well represented in the main channel of Bayou D’Arbonne. Of the 373 turtle observations along the main stem (Table 6), 69% were map turtles. The only map turtle identified on the refuge was the Mississippi Map Turtle (72% of those identified fully to species). There is a high frequency of broken crescents among the head markings exhibited by many of the Bayou D’Arbonne G. p. kohnii. We were alert to look for the presence of Ouachita Map Turtles in the bayou because of historical museum records (not examined by us) of their presence upstream in the drainage of Bayou D’Arbonne (Dundee and Rossman, 1989), but we never identified any. The other two species common in Bayou D’Arbonne were the River Cooter (8%) and Red-eared Slider (20%). Another species was detected while basking and is detailed below in the Incidentals section.

Transects We conducted transect-type surveys to look for signs of turtle nesting along most stretches of sandy shoreline between the Lake Drain boat launch and the Rocky Branch bridge (all sites lumped together in Table10). We found only depredated nests in 2020 during our surveys. We saw many depredated emydid nests at scattered sites on both the east and west sides of the bayou, and we found a few softshell nests. The only ones we could identify with reasonable confidence based on shell size were Spiny Softshell nests. Since map turtles (Graptemys spp.) are the most abundant emydid turtles in Bayou D’Arbonne, more than likely the majority were Mississippi Map Turtle nests (see above about basking). As is usually the case, nest depredation appears to be intense and can probably be attributed primarily to here as well as everywhere else (Holcomb and Carr, 2013). On one stretch of sand bank, we found signs of wild hogs depredating nests. This instance was

13 relatively fresh with tracks and eggs crushed in a manner different than the appearance of eaten eggs.

Incidentals The Three-toed Box Turtle was only recorded at a couple of sites around the periphery of the refuge as incidentals. These sites are at higher elevations, or are close to higher elevation areas. In August 2020, one of our team (JBG) photographically documented a juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtle basking along Bayou D’Arbonne. This fortuitous observation confirms the presence of the species on the refuge (Table 1) and is being prepared for publication given the paucity of basking records for the species (Carr et al., 2011).

Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge

We detected three species of turtles during the project period (Tables 1 & 4). We also include a mapped record for a fourth species based on a personal communication (Kelby Ouchley). We did not record any basking observations or make any nesting surveys at Handy Brake NWR.

Trapping We trapped in Handy Brake using a wide variety of trap types, including those usually recommended for catching Chicken Turtles, i.e., fyke nets (Buhlmann et al., 2009, Dinkelacker and Hilzinger, 2014). We also trapped at times of the year when there should be a good chance that Chicken Turtles are in the water (McKnight et al., 2015). We caught two different kinosternid turtles that are frequently found in shallow water habitats, Mississippi Mud Turtles and Stinkpots. The most abundant was the Red-eared Slider; 91% of the 151 turtles captured. In addition to the three turtle species captured, we also had Alligator by-catch. This confirmed the reports we heard from Mr. and Mrs. Barrett about there being Alligators present in the brake. Whether Alligators were placed in the brake by personnel from an animal control agency, or they naturally colonized via lateral connections across the alluvial plain during a flood, the presence of Alligators in the brake is a negative indicator in relation to the continued survival of Western Chicken Turtles.

Incidentals We incidentally located a couple of turtle shells left by predators (probably nesting females) on the Barretts’ cleared hillside leading down to the water’s edge, which would be immediately adjacent to the refuge property. The clearing on the slope is no doubt an attraction for nesting by some turtles. In addition, Kelby Ouchley chanced upon a female Western Chicken Turtle in the midst of nesting sometime in the mid-1990s (pers. comm.). He took photos (not located), and kindly provided a map location based on his distinct memory of the incident. The mapped location is based on this historic record.

14 Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge Thirteen turtle species were detected during the project period (Tables 1, 5, 6, 8 & 10). In addition, we have included in our maps detections from the Mollicy Farm Project report (Carr et al., 2013) and the map turtle project (Carr et al., 2020) to fill out the geographic breadth of sampling. The Western Chicken Turtle was listed as having been detected on the refuge (USFWS, 2008), but we are unaware of the source or location of this record.

Trapping We conducted 10 trapping sessions for 370 trap-nights at eight locations (Table 5). Nearly 500 turtles were captured (474), with a CPUE of 1.28 turtles/trap-night. All 10 turtle species caught using traps across the entire NLR Complex were captured on this refuge. Among them, we caught two SGCN species (Alligator Snapping Turtle and Razor-backed Musk Turtle). Alligator Snapping Turtles were only captured in Finch Lake and Harrell Lake (7 total); both adults and juveniles captured in both lakes. The largest male weighed over 100 lbs. Razor- backed Musk Turtles were caught in Harrell Lake only. Among the other turtle species, Southern Painted Turtles were caught in Cecil Creek and Glaze Creek where they had previously been recorded (Carr et al., 2013). This was the only location sampled where we found Southern Painted Turtles on the NLR Complex. Common Snapping Turtles were captured in the Cecil Creek-Glaze Creek complex, as well as Widow Jane Brake; however, none were caught in either of the lakes where Alligator Snapping Turtles were captured. A single Mississippi Map Turtle was captured in Cecil Creek. It is uncommon to capture this species with a baited trap – this was the only capture of this species for the NLR Complex. River Cooters were captured in small numbers using fyke nets (unbaited) in Finch Lake and Harrell Lake. Red-eared Sliders were captured at all sites on the refuge with turtle captures. Alligators were detected as by-catch in Harrell Lake and Widow Jane Brake. In addition, we saw a large one near a turtle trap in Finch Lake and we saw one Alligator swimming in Cook Creek. We had not previously detected Alligators in Widow Jane Brake, nor anywhere else on Upper Ouachita NWR (Carr et al., 2013; where we referred to Widow Jane Brake as Broussard Lake).

Basking Surveys We conducted 23 basking surveys at 10 sites (counting all years; see Table 8). We concentrated on the main stem of the Ouachita River where we found it logistically impossible to trap. Of the eight turtle species observed across the entire NLR Complex during basking surveys, we made observations of six. Two SGCN species were only observed based on basking surveys. The Ouachita Map Turtle was observed at three sites along an approximately 3 km length of the Ouachita River from Hooker Hole and extending north where the parish road parallels the river. It has not been observed in the vicinity of the Finch Bayou Recreation Area. Only the Mississippi Map Turtle has been observed in the vicinity of the Recreation Area as far north as the Arkansas border, but the number of surveys in that river section is smaller than in the lower region, and all are older (1998-2016). Smooth Softshells were observed at one location on the Ouachita River during recent surveys (2020), along with a few scattered observations from previous years (incidental basking observations not compiled in Table 8), all associated

15 with the sandy banks of the Ouachita River main stem. Of the 336 basking turtle observations (Table 6) along the main stem of the Ouachita River, 79% were map turtles, and of those identified to species, 81% were Mississippi Map Turtles and 19% Ouachita Map Turtles.

Transects The only transect-type surveys we conducted were nest surveys along stretches of shoreline that were sandy. Two of the three sites were on the Mollicy Unit and the other on the west bank of the Ouachita River (Table 10). We visited each site once in 2019, and revisited the two Mollicy sites in 2020. As such, each survey is a snapshot of nesting activity up to the point at which we visited the site. Each survey was in July, well advanced into the nesting season, if not near the end. We found evidence of extensive nesting in three places, nearly all in the form of depredated nests—two sites on the Mollicy Unit and one on the west side of the Ouachita River. We found signs of a significant number of nests by Spiny Softshells, at least one instance of Smooth Softshell nesting, and the Ouachita River site had extensive signs of nesting by emydid turtles. Since map turtles (Graptemys spp.) are the most abundant emydid turtles in the Ouachita River, more than likely the majority were Mississippi Map Turtle nests (see above about basking). This was also evidenced by finding a depredated female carcass amidst the sandy areas where nests had been laid (Table 10). The two Mollicy Unit nesting areas also provided evidence of some challenges for nest survival on the refuge. One problem that was more widespread, identified in two places (Table 10), was the signs of wild hogs depredating nests. Some nesting areas were so ‘plowed up’ by hog rooting that it was difficult to tell whether or not any nests might have survived. A second potential problem has to do with changing water levels. The last two years, water levels in the Ouachita River basin have been very high for an extended period. We observed that early nesting (presumably) was higher on the sand banks, up to near the tops, and extended lower over time as the water level dropped. In the case of the Widgeon Ponds, the normal nesting hot spot was under water for an extended period and the higher ‘sand banks’ were actually across the road on the side of the remaining levee. The problem we observed was that any change in water level upward once the annual summer decline began would inundate nests laid closer to the water’s edge on shallower inclines—the extent of this problem was not clear, but it was a source of potential mortality for any nests that may have survived the nest predator onslaught. In the case of Upper Ouachita NWR, the source of the rising water could be a tropical storm or other heavy rainfall, or release from the dam at Felsenthal.

Incidentals The Three-toed Box Turtle was only recorded at sites around the periphery of the refuge as incidentals. These sites are at higher elevations, or are close to higher elevation areas.

16 SUMMARY

A brief summary of the findings by refuge are detailed below, followed by refuge specific suggestions and conservation concerns.

Black Bayou Lake NWR

• 10 species confirmed by recent sampling, plus two others previously recorded o Spiny Softshell o Southern Painted Turtle* o Alligator Snapping Turtle o Western Chicken Turtle* o Common Snapping Turtle o Mississippi Map Turtle o Mississippi Mud Turtle o River Cooter o Razor-backed Musk Turtle o Three-toed Box Turtle o Stinkpot o Red-eared Slider Concerns.—Two of the 12 species recorded within the past 25 years are apparently extirpated (*). This may be related to multiple factors, including: (1) changes in the connectivity of Black Bayou Lake with Bayou DeSiard across the floodplain (loss of a factor in metapopulation dynamics) and (2) the dense population of Alligators in the lake and peripheral areas—this could impact both species and has long been thought a factor in restricting the distribution of Chicken Turtles.

Other concerns specifically about the Alligator Snapping Turtle include the dearth of juveniles in the population. It is still not possible to determine if the intense raccoon nest depredation can account for this with respect to the entire lake margin, or it only affects the NW corner. It may also be the case that in such a large body of water, there is partitioning of space by size and we are biased by trapping in deeper water—however, during studies in various locations in the region we have had no problem catching juveniles with the same techniques employed for adults.

Spiny Softshell nest depredation is intense in the one area where nesting commonly occurs along the NW margin of the lake. It is unknown what the population demographic structure looks like, as we have caught so few softshells in the water.

17 D’Arbonne NWR

• 10 species confirmed by recent sampling, plus one other previously recorded (*) o Spiny Softshell o Southern Painted Turtle* o Alligator Snapping Turtle o Mississippi Map Turtle o Common Snapping Turtle o River Cooter o Mississippi Mud Turtle o Three-toed Box Turtle o Razor-backed Musk Turtle o Red-eared Slider o Stinkpot Concerns.—We were not able to access many areas of the southern portion of the refuge due to time and logistical constraints, so it would be beneficial to explore additional areas in the future. We did not confirm the observation of Southern Painted Turtles made in the late 1990s, but we were not able to sample in the types of backwater habitat where they would be expected. We have no concerns about their continued presence on the refuge because we see no major changes in the hydrological regime, and Alligators do not appear too numerous.

Hog damage was found on one nesting area along Bayou D’Arbonne. This is having affects on both the softshell turtles and emydid turtles inhabiting the bayou and nesting along its banks. There is already a considerable level of nest depredation due to the typical nest predators, i.e., raccoons.

Handy Brake NWR

• 3 species confirmed by recent sampling, plus one other previously recorded (*) o Mississippi Mud Turtle o Western Chicken Turtle* o Stinkpot o Red-eared Slider Concerns.—We only collected three turtle species, but there are others that might logically be expected to be present. Additional trapping is recommended for the brake and any other water courses present in the SE corner of the refuge to fill out the inventory. We had limited access to be able to trap, and we did not realize the historical record of a Western Chicken Turtle was made in the SE section of the refuge until recently. This was an area we did not visit. Although Chicken Turtles might still be present, the presence of Alligators in the brake are a counter indicator with respect to their continued existence there.

18 Upper Ouachita NWR

• 13 species confirmed by recent sampling o Smooth Softshell o Southern Painted Turtle o Spiny Softshell o Ouachita Map Turtle o Alligator Snapping Turtle o Mississippi Map Turtle o Common Snapping Turtle o River Cooter o Mississippi Mud Turtle o Three-toed Box Turtle o Razor-backed Musk Turtle o Red-eared Slider o Stinkpot

Concerns.—Although there is a previous record of Western Chicken Turtle for the refuge (USFWS, 2008), we did not find evidence of any.

We found hog damage in two turtle nesting areas used predominantly by Spiny Softshells.

19 LITERATURE CITED

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Weber, D., J. McGowan, S. Haase, C. Rice, T. Kennedy, R. Martin and K. Ouchley (2012). Bringing floodplain restoration to scale: the Mollicy Farms Project on the Ouachita River, Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana, USA. National Wetlands Newsletter 34(2): 16-19.

23 Table 1. Turtle species of the North Louisiana Refuges Complex. Methods of detection are indicated by T (trapping), B (basking observation), N ( nest survey), and I (incidental; including body parts and live animals encountered during nesting transect surveys). BBLNWR D'ArNWR HBNWR UONWR Family & Species Common Name TBNITBNITBNITBNI Trionychidae Apalone mutica Smooth Softshell  Apalone spinifera Spiny Softshell     Chelydridae serpentina Common Snapping Turtle   Macrochelys temminckii Alligator Snapping Turtle     Kinosternidae Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Mississippi Mud Turtle  Sternotherus carinatus Razor-backed Musk Turtle   Stinkpot  Emydidae Chrysemys dorsalis Southern Painted Turtle     24 Deirochelys reticularia miaria Western Chicken Turtle  Graptemys ouachitensis Ouachita Map Turtle  Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii Mississippi Map Turtle   Pseudemys concinna River Cooter    Terrapene carolina triunguis Three-toed Box Turtle   Trachemys scripta elegans Red-eared Slider       Table 2. Turtle trapping collections summary for Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge (2018-2020). The turtle catch-per-unit-effort is expressed as turtles per trap-night. Alligator captures are also included. ALLIGATOR TURTLES All Apa Chel Mac Kino Ster Ster Chry Grap Pseu Trach Total # Trap- Turtles/ Black Bayou Lake NWR Dates miss spin serp temm subr cari odor dors p kohn conn s eleg Turtles nights trap-night Bayou DeSiard 4 - 10 Sept 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 8 10 57 0.1754 Bayou DeSiard 29 June - 3 July 2019 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 19 0.2632 BBL - corner of peninsula 11 - 14 May 2020 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 30 0.0333 BBL - main lake 11-17 June & 23-28 Oct 2019 2 0 0 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 23 79 0.2911 BBL - main lake 15 - 18 September 2020 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 30 0.1333 BBL - W of railroad (NW corner) 24 - 28 April 2020 3 0 2 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 23 30 58 0.5172 Boardwalk area (NW corner) 1 - 7 June 2018 0 0 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 9 48 0.1875 East side - 1 10 - 15 May 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 55 0.0182 East side - 2 25 - 30 May 2019 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 5 9 50 0.1800 Observation Tower 27 Feb-3 Mar & 4-9 June 2019 1 0 3 0 13 0 1 0 0 0 12 29 120 0.2417 Old Hatchery Ponds 24 - 30 July 2018 12 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 39 40 64 0.6250 Photo Blind Pond 27-30 May 2018 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 12 30 0.4000 Photo Blind Pond 22 - 28 June 2019 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 60 0.0667 South Overflow - 1 29 Mar - 2 April 2018 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 9 20 0.4500 South Overflow - 2 28 Mar - 2 April 2019 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 17 23 100 0.2300 Column Totals 31 2 8 29 28 0 10 0 0 0 132 209 820 0.2549 25

TURTLE SPECIES Apalone spinifera Spiny Softshell Chelydra serpentina Common Snapping Turtle Macrochelys temminckii Alligator Snapping Turtle Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Mississippi Mud Turtle Sternotherus carinatus Razor-backed Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus Stinkpot Chrysemys dorsalis Southern Painted Turtle Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii Mississippi Map Turtle Pseudemys concinna River Cooter Trachemys scripta elegans Red-eared Slider Table 3. Turtle trapping collections summary for D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge (2018-2020). The turtle catch-per-unit-effort is expressed as turtles per trap- night. Alligator captures are also included. ALLIGATOR TURTLES All Apa Chel Mac Kino Ster Ster Chry Grap Pseu Trach Total # Trap‐ Turtles/ D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge Dates miss spin serp temm subr cari odor dors p kohn conn s eleg Turtles nights trap‐night Bayou D'Arbonne 20 ‐ 23 September 2019 0 7 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 24 39 30 1.3000 Cross Bayou 9 ‐ 14 October 2019 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 17 25 80 0.3125 Holland's Bluff Slough 13 ‐ 16 September 2019 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 10 12 30 0.4000 Lake Drain Rd‐Cypress Creek 19 ‐ 24 June 2018 0 0 6 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 14 30 0.4667 Lake Drain Rd‐Water Elm Pond 19 ‐ 24 June 2018 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 30 0.1667 Lake Drain Slough 2 ‐ 6 November 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 2 11 24 0.4583 Column Totals 0 7 7 0 5 7 20 0 0 1 59 106 224 0.4732

TURTLE SPECIES Apalone spinifera Spiny Softshell Chelydra serpentina Common Snapping Turtle Macrochelys temminckii Alligator Snapping Turtle Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Mississippi Mud Turtle Sternotherus carinatus Razor‐backed Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus Stinkpot Chrysemys dorsalis Southern Painted Turtle 26 Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii Mississippi Map Turtle Pseudemys concinna River Cooter Trachemys scripta elegans Red‐eared Slider

CROCODILIANS Alligator mississipiensis Table 4. Turtle trapping collections summary for Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge (2018-2020). The turtle catch-per-unit-effort is expressed as turtles per trap- night. Alligator captures are also included. ALLIGATOR TURTLES All Apa Chel Mac Kino Ster Ster Chry Grap Pseu Trach Total # Trap‐ Turtles/ Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge Dates miss spin serp temm subr cari odor dors p kohn conn s eleg Turtles nights trap‐night East side 19 ‐ 23 April 2018 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 12 19 60 0.3167 West side 16 ‐ 23 July 2019 2 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 126 132 71 1.8592 Column Totals 2 0 0 0 6 0 7 0 0 0 138 151 131 1.1527

TURTLE SPECIES Apalone spinifera Spiny Softshell Chelydra serpentina Common Snapping Turtle Macrochelys temminckii Alligator Snapping Turtle Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Mississippi Mud Turtle Sternotherus carinatus Razor‐backed Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus Stinkpot Chrysemys dorsalis Southern Painted Turtle Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii Mississippi Map Turtle Pseudemys concinna River Cooter Trachemys scripta elegans Red‐eared Slider 27 CROCODILIANS Alligator mississipiensis American Alligator Table 5. Turtle trapping collections summary for Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge (2018-2020). The turtle catch-per-unit-effort is expressed as turtles per trap- night. Alligator captures are also included. ALLIGATOR TURTLES All Apa Chel Mac Kino Ster Ster Chry Grap Pseu Trach Total # Trap‐ Turtles/ Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge Dates miss spin serp temm subr cari odor dors p kohn conn s eleg Turtles nights trap‐night Bayou DeButte 13 ‐ 16 July 2020 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 29 0.2069 Cecil‐Glaze Creek Complex 29 Aug ‐ 2 Sept 2019 0 4 2 0 0 0 5 23 1 0 55 90 44 2.0455 Cook Creek 8 ‐ 12 November 2019 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 40 0.0250 Finch Lake 20 ‐ 24 Sept 2018 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 2 44 51 24 2.1250 Harrell Lake 6 ‐ 14 July 2018 1 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 0 2 124 134 82 1.6341 Harrell Lake 21 ‐ 27 July 2019 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 36 0.1111 Mollicy Bayou 31 Aug ‐ 3 Sept 2018 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 29 32 33 0.9697 Upper Finch Bayou 26 ‐ 28 October 2019 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 0.0000 Widow Jane Brake 5 ‐ 8 October 2018 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 11 14 30 0.4667 Widow Jane Brake 9 ‐ 11 July 2020 1 0 9 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 128 142 32 4.4375 Column Totals 2 6 12 7 1 3 17 23 1 4 400 474 370 1.2811

TURTLE SPECIES Apalone spinifera Spiny Softshell Chelydra serpentina Common Snapping Turtle Macrochelys temminckii Alligator Snapping Turtle 28 Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Mississippi Mud Turtle Sternotherus carinatus Razor‐backed Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus Stinkpot Chrysemys dorsalis Southern Painted Turtle Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii Mississippi Map Turtle Pseudemys concinna River Cooter Trachemys scripta elegans Red‐eared Slider

CROCODILIANS Alligator mississipiensis American Alligator Table 6. Basking turtle observations summary for the three refuges and major water bodies (1998-2020). Refuge and Water Body AP_MU ST_CA ST_OD EMYD PCorTS GRAP GR_OU GR_PK CH_DO PS_CO TR_SE Total Turtles Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge Harrell Lake 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 2 2 10 Ouachita River ‐ backwater lakes 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 8 5 0 15 33 Ouachita River ‐ main stem & creek confluences 3 0 0 10 28 116 29 121 0 10 19 336

D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ backwater/overflow swamp 00020000108 11 Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ main stem 0 2 1 16 14 40 0 217 0 23 60 373

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge Black Bayou Lake 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 1 0 6 9 27 Bayou DeSiard ‐ channel 00002103010 7 29 Table 7. Basking turtle observations summary by species for D'Arbonne NWR and Black Bayou Lake NWR (1998-2020). Site and Date AP_MU ST_CA ST_OD EMYD PCorTS GRAP GR_OU GR_PK CH_DO PS_CO TR_SE Bayou D'Arbonne, backwater on E side ~ 0.34 km NW Hollands Bluff launch (15) 00020000108 1998‐7‐31 00020000108 Bayou D'Arbonne, W side ~ 0.92 km WNW Hollands Bluff launch (16) 00000305002 1998‐7‐31 00000305002 Bayou D'Arbonne at Rocky Branch bridge (136) 0 0 0 1 1 8 0 96 0 12 16 2002‐9‐13 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 14 0 1 5 2016‐6‐22 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 21 0 1 1 2019‐7‐10 00000202000 2020‐6‐1 0 000000 8 024 2020‐6‐15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 3 1 2020‐6‐21 00000008033 2020‐7‐14 00000102000 2020‐7‐17 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 16 0 2 2 Bayou D'Arbonne, Deep Well Rd #1 (192) 0 2 1 15 13 25 0 105 0 11 42 30 2017‐9‐28 0 0 0 14 4 3 0 6 0 0 0 2018‐6‐19 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 15 0 0 3 2018‐8‐24 0 1 1 1 2 1 0 20 0 2 12 2019‐11‐6 0 0 0 0 6 14 0 32 0 6 11 2019‐9‐27 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 20 0 3 16 2020‐7‐14 00000105000 2020‐7‐17 00001107000 Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ transect (234) 00000105000 2020‐7‐2 0 000010 5 000 Bayou D'Arbonne, Deep Well Rd #2 (236) 00000306000 2020‐7‐14 00000301000 2020‐7‐15 00000002000 2020‐7‐17 00000003000 Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge Black Bayou Lake, wildlife pier (39) 0 0 0 11 0 0 0 1 0 6 9 1999‐11‐11 00090000032 1999‐11‐17 00000001024 1999‐12‐27 00020000013 Bayou DeSiard ‐ transect (225) 00002103010 2019‐6‐14 00002103010 Table 8. Basking turtle observations summary by species for Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge (1998-2020). Site and Date AP_MU ST_CA ST_OD EMYD PCorTS GRAP GR_OU GR_PK CH_DO PS_CO TR_SE Harrell Lake ‐ transect (219) 00002004022 2018‐7‐11 00002004022 Ouachita River, Painted Turtle Lake‐S (1) 00000003001 1998‐7‐25 00000002001 2016‐8‐28 00000001000 Ouachita River, Painted Turtle Lake‐N (2) 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 5 5 0 12 1998‐7‐25 00000000305 1998‐7‐26 00010204207 1999‐5‐21 00000001000 Ouachita River, creek mouth, 1.3 km SE Finch Bayou Rec Area (3) 00000000007 1998‐7‐25 00000000007 Ouachita River, W side near mouth Glaze Creek (4) 00000000002 1998‐7‐26 00000000002 Ouachita River, E side in Mud Lake (5) 00000200002 1998‐7‐26 00000200002 31 Ouachita River, looking at E bank by Ark border (33) 00000108002 1999‐6‐15 00000108002 Ouachita River, Parish Rd 2293 #1 (235) 3 0 0 0 1 2 4 30 0 2 1 2020‐7‐10 00000108001 2020‐7‐15 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 2020‐7‐17 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 10 0 2 0 Ouachita River, Parish Rd 2293 #2 (237) 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 18 0 0 1 2020‐7‐15 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 13 0 0 1 2020‐7‐17 00000105000 Ouachita River at Hooker Hole (197) 0 0 0 10 27 109 23 65 0 8 6 2017‐12‐1 0 0 0 4 8 18 0 3 0 0 0 2018‐6‐18 0 0 0 3 5 31 5 20 0 3 2 2018‐8‐19 0 0 0 2 5 19 10 8 0 3 3 2019‐10‐11 00000132000 2019‐11‐1 0 000010 1 000 2019‐12‐5 0 000160 3 000 2019‐8‐23 0 0 0 1 4 24 1 15 0 2 0 2019‐9‐20 0 0 0 0 4 9 4 13 0 0 1 Table 9. Observations made on nesting transect surveys at BBLNWR in 2020. This includes depredated nests, intact nests, live animals, depredated animals, or incidental basking observations during the survey. Sites are mapped, as are survey data points from prior-year surveys as far back as 2004. No Locality Year Species Observed Type of Observation Bayou DeSiard transect 2020 Graptemys p. kohnii 3 basking observation Bayou DeSiard transect 2020 Pseudemys concinna 8 basking observation Bayou DeSiard transect 2020 Sternotherus carinatus 1 dead animal ‐ carapace only Bayou DeSiard transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 5 basking observation Bayou DeSiard transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 1 dead animal ‐ shell NW railway transect 2020 Apalone spinifera 65 depredated nest NW railway transect 2020 Chelydra serpentina 1 live animal NW railway transect 2020 emydid sp. 4 depredated nest NW railway transect 2020 Macrochelys temminckii 5 depredated nest NW railway transect 2020 Macrochelys temminckii 1 intact nest ‐ later depredated NW railway transect 2020 Pseudemys concinna 3 depredated animal ‐ shell NW railway transect 2020 Sternotherus odoratus 1 live animal ‐ female NW railway transect 2020 Sternotherus odoratus 11 depredated animal ‐ shell NW railway transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 2 basking observation NW railway transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 2 dead animal ‐ shell old hatchery ponds 2020 emydid sp. 1 depredated nest old hatchery ponds 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 1 live female ‐ finished nesting peninsula transect 2020 Chelydra serpentina 1 depredated nest peninsula transect 2020 emydid sp. 3 depredated nest peninsula transect 2020 Graptemys p. kohnii 1 depredated female peninsula transect 2020 Macrochelys temminckii 4 depredated nest peninsula transect 2020 Macrochelys temminckii 2 nesting female peninsula transect 2020 Sternotherus odoratus 1 depredated animal ‐ shell peninsula transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 1 basking observation peninsula transect 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 1 live animal

32 Table 10. Observations made during nesting beach surveys at D'Arbonne NWR (2020) and Upper Ouachita NWR (2019 and 2020). This may include depredated nests, intact nests, live animals, or depredated animals during the survey. Sites are mapped, but the live and dead animals are labeled as 'incidentals'. No RefugeParish Locality Year Species Observed Type of Observation Upper Ouachita NWR Morehouse NW corner of North Reservoir, Mollicy Unit 2019 Apalone sp. 9 depredated nest Morehouse NW corner of North Reservoir, Mollicy Unit 2020 Apalone sp. 8+ depredated nest Morehouse NW corner of North Reservoir, Mollicy Unit 2019 Apalone spinifera 1 depredated nest ‐ hog Morehouse NW corner of North Reservoir, Mollicy Unit 2020 Apalone spinifera 11 depredated nest Morehouse Widgeon Pond sandbanks 2019 Apalone sp. 7 depredated nest Morehouse Widgeon Pond sandbanks 2020 Apalone sp. 1 depredated nest ‐ hog damage Morehouse Widgeon Pond sandbanks 2019 emydid sp. 1 depredated nest Morehouse Widgeon Pond sandbanks 2019 Trachemys s. elegans 1 intact nest Morehouse Widgeon Pond sandbanks 2020 Trachemys s. elegans 2 live animal Union sandbank, W side Ouachita R., ~ 32.949⁰ N 2019 Apalone mutica 1 depredated nest Union sandbank, W side Ouachita R., ~ 32.949⁰ N 2019 Apalone spinifera 1 depredated nest 33 Union sandbank, W side Ouachita R., ~ 32.949⁰ N 2019 emydid sp. 16 depredated nest Union sandbank, W side Ouachita R., ~ 32.949⁰ N 2019 Graptemys p. kohnii 1 depredated female

D'Arbonne NWR Union Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ Lake Drain to R.B. bridge 2020 Apalone sp. 2 depredated nest Union Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ Lake Drain to R.B. bridge 2020 Apalone spinifera 4+ depredated nest Union Bayou D'Arbonne ‐ Lake Drain to R.B. bridge 2020 emydid sp. 14 depredated nest Spiny Softshell – Apalone spinifera Alligator Snapping Turtle – Macrochelys temminckii

Common Snapping Turtle – Chelydra serpentina Mississippi Mud Turtle – Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis

Maps 1‐4. Turtle distributions at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

34 Razor‐backed Musk Turtle – Stinkpot – Sternotherus odoratus Sternotherus carinatus

Western Chicken Turtle – Deirochelys Mississippi Map Turtle – Graptemys reticularia miaria pseudogeographica kohnii

Maps 5‐8. Turtle distributions at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

35 River Cooter – Pseudemys concinna Three‐toed Box Turtle – Terrapene carolina triunguis

Red‐eared Slider – Trachemys scripta elegans American Alligator – Alligator mississippiensis

Maps 9‐12. Turtle and Alligator distributions at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

36 Spiny Softshell – Apalone spinifera Alligator Snapping Turtle – Macrochelys temminckii

Common Snapping Turtle – Chelydra serpentina Mississippi Mud Turtle – Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis

Maps 13‐16. Turtle distributions at D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge.

37 Razor‐backed Musk Turtle – Stinkpot – Sternotherus odoratus Sternotherus carinatus

Southern Painted Turtle – Chrysemys dorsalis Mississippi Map Turtle – Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii

Maps 17‐20. Turtle distributions at D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge.

38 River Cooter – Pseudemys concinna Three‐toed Box Turtle – Terrapene carolina triunguis

Red‐eared Slider – Trachemys scripta elegans

Maps 21‐23. Turtle distributions at D’Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge.

39 Mississippi Mud Turtle – Stinkpot – Sternotherus odoratus Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis

Western Chicken Turtle – Deirochelys Red‐eared Slider – Trachemys reticularia miaria scripta elegans

Maps 24‐27. Turtle distributions at Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge.

40 American Alligator – Alligator mississippiensis

Maps 28. Alligator distribution at Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuge.

41 Smooth Softshell – Spiny Softshell – Apalone mutica Apalone spinifera

Alligator Snapping Turtle – Macrochelys temminckii Common Snapping Turtle – Chelydra serpentina

Maps 29-32. Turtle distributions at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

42 Mississippi Mud Turtle – Razor-backed Musk Turtle – Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis Sternotherus carinatus

Stinkpot – Sternotherus odoratus Southern Painted Turtle – Chrysemys dorsalis

Maps 33-36. Turtle distributions at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

43 OuachitaRazor Map- Turtlebacked – GraptemysMusk Turtle ouachitensis – Mississippi Map Turtle Sternotherus carinatus – Graptemys pseudogeographica kohnii

RiverWestern Cooter Chicken – Pseudemys Turtle concinna– Deirochelys Three-toed Box Turtle – reticularia miaria Terrapene carolina triunguis

Maps 37-40. Turtle distributions at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

44 Red-eared Slider – American Alligator – Alligator mississippiensis Trachemys scripta elegans

Maps 41-42. Turtle and Alligator distributions at Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.

45