Year of the Turtle News No. 7 July 2011 Basking in the Wonder of Turtles www.YearoftheTurtle.org Terrapin Delay at JFK: Turtles in the News runways to safety and their goal— beaches they have nested on since long before the airport existed. For the full story, see www.cbsnews. com/stories/2011/06/29/national/ main20075461.shtml. Desert Tortoises made the news first by the publication of a genetic study that discovered they are really at least two species, instead of one. The old designation, Gopherus agassizii, applies only to tortoises west of the Colorado River. Tortoises in Arizona Rescued Diamondback Terrapins that had caused delays crossing a runway at and Mexico to the east of the river New York’s JFK airport hitch a ride to safety on June 29, 2011. (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) are apparently a separate species, now named Gopherus morafkai after It’s been a big week for turtles and did a slow crawl across Runway 4L late tortoise researcher David J. tortoises in the news. and nearby taxiways, sometimes Morafka. Science Daily has more on CBS News and the Associated so thick that the controllers had to the story at www.sciencedaily.com/ Press reported that Diamondback divert flights to a different runway. releases/2011/06/110628132555. Terrapins in search of sandy nesting Port Authority workers and U.S. htm. beaches caused delays at New York’s Department of Agriculture employees The ‘so what’ behind this story is Kennedy Airport on Wednesday, pursued the terrapins, scooping them that Desert Tortoises have been at the June 29. About 150 of the turtles up and giving them a boost across the More Turtles in the News on p. 4 Inside: page John Luther Behler (1943 – 2006): A Legacy Year of the Turtle Partners 2 By Al Breisch, PARC Joint National Steering Committee Co-chair July Turtle Calendar! 2 I remember John as a field A Personal View of John Iverson 5 biologist, fisherman, and hunter Turtle Art, Stories & Poetry 6 of big game and pheasants. He was Meet the YoT Team: Al Breisch 7 always happiest in the field: herping, Citizen Science Programs 8 bird watching or botanizing. Or simply sitting and watching turtles. Turtle Spotlight 9 He frequently told stories, sometimes MWPARC Regional Spotlight 10 with a perfect Pennsylvania Dutch Turtles “All the Way Down” 12 accent, of his exploits exploring the John Behler and friend at Delaware Upcoming Meetings 13 Water Gap. Photo: Christina Castellano. Continued on p. 3 “Behold the turtle. He makes progress when his neck is out.” — James Bryant Conant (1893-1978), educator and scientist Year of the Turtle News No. 7, July 2011, p. 2 Year of the Turtle Collaborating Partners The Year of the Turtle Planning Team is pleased to welcome the following organizations to our growing list of collaborating partners: Friends of the Cache River Watershed is a non-profit citizens’ group that promotes natural resource conservation throughout the Cache River Watershed in southern Illinois. We work together with landowners and members of the Joint Venture Partnership, which includes Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resource Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Together we share a common goal to protect and restore 60,000 acres along a 50-mile corridor of the Cache River. www.friendsofcache.org The Seattle Turtle and Tortoise Club is a charitable organization formed exclusively for the purposes of chelonian education through monthly meetings, public outreach programs, turtle and tortoise rescue, and supporting private conservation efforts both locally and globally for the preservation of the world’s turtles. We are a ten-year-old organization that has built a reputation on educating the public about turtle and tortoise husbandry. We work with individuals, organizations, state and federal agencies, schools, local breeders, herpetologists, and anybody with tortoises who we can help. www.seattleturtleandtortoiseclub.com Wisconsin Wetlands Association (WWA) was established in 1969 to protect the state’s wetland resources through education, training, advocacy, and research on key issues that affect wetlands. WWA is the only statewide organization focused exclusively on wetland protection. More than 1450 members include wetland scientists and educators, conservationists, hunters, concerned citizens, and local and regional organizations. Our newsletter, Wisconsin Wetlands, is received by more than 1,500 individuals and organizations quarterly. www.wisconsinwetlands.org Our full list of partners can be found at http://parcplace.org/news-a-events/year-of-the-turtle/237.html. If you are interested in contributing to the Year of the Turtle efforts, please send an email to yearoftheturtle2011@gmail. com with a brief description of your organization and its efforts. Get Your July Calendar! This Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) roaming among the red rocks won the July calendar contest for Fiana Shapiro. Get a better look at this month’s winner and runner-up by downloading your calendar at parcplace.org/ images/stories/YOT/YearoftheTurtleCalendarJuly.pdf And it’s STILL not too late to enter the 2011 Calendar Photo Contest! We are accepting entries all year long. Give us your best shot! For more information and for entry details, please visit www.parcplace.org/news-a- events/224.html. Year of the Turtle News No. 7, July 2011, p. 3 John Behler, continued from p. 1 the Bronx Zoo, he began systematic coupled the captive breeding of the surveys of all Bog Turtle sites in New radiated tortoises with extensive field York and northeastern Pennsylvania studies of the tortoises of Madagascar and started extensive communication visiting the island nation seven times. with everyone else working on Bog All aspects of turtle ecology, behavior, Turtles. genetics, and diseases were of interest John is primarily remembered to John. as Curator of the Department In the early 1990s, John warned of Herpetology at the Wildlife about the decimation of wild Asian Conservation Society/Bronx Zoo turtle populations for the food and where he worked from 1970 until traditional medicine markets. He his death in 2006. As Curator of pushed for the development of turtle Herpetology, John was widely known farms in China to supply the quickly by many herpetologists as a friend, expanding commercial market. He colleague, mentor and counsel. petitioned New York State to create His job at the Zoo alone would be the Bog Brook Unique Area, a 136 a full time job for most people but acre wetland in southeastern New John became a leader in the world of York that the state subsequently amphibian and reptile conservation. purchased in 1981 specifically to He had a particular passion for turtles, protect Bog, Spotted, and Wood John Behler at Bog Brook Unique Area, Putnam County, New York. Photo by Al championing local, state, national Turtles, the first area purchased by Breisch. and international turtle conservation the state to protect turtles. He also issues. Behler guided the Bronx Zoo helped lead a successful campaign forests, wetlands and creeks of eastern to become a leader in the development to regulate the harvest of Diamond- PA especially near his boyhood home of captive breeding programs for back Terrapins in New York State in or the Poconos where his family had endangered and threatened tortoises 1990. Following his death, the “John a hunting and fishing camp. He was and freshwater turtles. Through L. Behler Memorial Biodiversity always ready to talk about his most his efforts, Batagur Turtles bred Reserve Area” was established in his recent turtle research or the latest in captivity for the first time at the honor at his long term Spotted Turtle threats to turtles somewhere in the Bronx Zoo. He also successfully bred study site at Muscoot Farm Nature world, generally places he himself Madagascan radiated tortoises at Center in Westchester County, NY. had visited. And he encouraged the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Behler chaired the IUCN Tortoise everyone he encountered to take an Wildlife Survival Center on St. and Freshwater Specialist Group active role in turtle conservation. Catherines Island, Georgia where he (TFTSG) and was a member of the Many conversations started or ended served as the Program Coordinator Convention on International Trade with “How can I help?” or “What do beginning in 1996 until the tortoise in Endangered Species (CITES) you want me to do?” facilities were closed in 2003. John Turtle Trade Working Group. He John’s professional work with turtles began in the late 1960s after completing a master’s degree in biology at East Stroudsburg State College, PA. For two years he taught at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the Finger Lakes Region of western New York. It was while living in the Finger Lakes area that he began his first detailed turtle studies focusing on the few historic and extant western New York Bog John Behler at Bog Brook Unique Area, Putnam County, New York. Photographer Turtle sites. Later, after relocating to unknown. Year of the Turtle News No. 7, July 2011, p. 4 was a founding member of the Turtle Survival Alliance John’s true legacy is really the people that he left (TSA). In 2006 the IUCN TFTSG and TSA established behind. At every place where herpetologists gather, I the Behler Turtle Conservation Award, given annually meet people who tell me new stories about John. About to an outstanding turtle conservationist. John authored how he provided advice in an email, letter or phone call, or co authored eight books on amphibians and reptiles, gave someone a foot in the door or an opportunity that including the widely used “Audubon Society Field Guide set their course in conservation, young, old, he inspired to North American Reptiles and Amphibians”, “The people not just to stop and think but to try and make a Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State: Identification, difference.