Management Plan for The Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii ) in the Alouette River Watershed April 2012 Prepared for: BC Hydro’s Bridge Coastal Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program 6911 Southpoint Drive (E14) Burnaby, BC V3N 4X8 And Kym Welstead Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations 10470 152 nd Street Surrey, BC V3R 0W8 BCRP Report No. 11.ALU.W.01 Prepared by: Aimee M. Mitchell, M.Sc., RPBio . 103-1516 E. 1 st Avenue Vancouver, BC V5N 1A5 i Abstract In 2011, funding was approved for the Bridge Coastal Restoration program project titled “Identify, conserve and restore populations of priority species at risk and their associated habitats within the Alouette River Watershed.” One of goals of this project, in cooperation with Western Painted Turtle Recovery program, is to identify sites occupied by Western Painted Turtles ( Chrysemys picta bellii ), and assess the available habitat, including potential threats, as well as opportunities for restoration. To properly assess these features, a detailed plan was developed to facilitate efficient surveys of any and all potential habitat within the Alouette Watershed, incorporating the North and the South Alouette drainages. ii Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Background/Rationale .................................................................................................................................. 1 Status ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 Threats .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Species Description ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Sampling Area and Habitat Description ........................................................................................................ 3 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Site Delineation ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Survey Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Materials Required ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Scheduling ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Data Collection: ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Management Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 7 Appendix I: Site Management Plan for Jerry Sulina Municipal Park ........................................................... 10 Appendix II: Survey Site Codes .................................................................................................................... 10 Appendix III: Survey Site Data Sheet ........................................................................................................... 11 Appendix IV: Turtle Occurrence Survey Data Collection Form ................................................................... 12 Appendix V: Habitat and Threat Assessment Data Collection Form .......................................................... 13 Appendix V: Survey Overview Maps ........................................................................................................... 14 iii Management Plan for The Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii ) in the Alouette River Watershed Background/Rationale The goal of the project is to identify, conserve and restore priority species at risk and their habitat within the Alouette River watershed. Western Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta bellii ) were selected as a priority species, due to their high conservation framework ranking, as well as the abundance of opportunities for conservation, restoration and stewardship. Specifically these goals will be achieved through these objectives: 1. Mapping Western Painted Turtle occurrences, as well as their habitat to guide future conservation, restoration and stewardship efforts. 2. Identifying specific threats to the Western Painted Turtle, protecting occupied sites, and restoring degraded habitat. 3. Preventing further population declines, habitat loss and degradation through increased accessibility to data, as well as public outreach and education designed to enhance awareness and stewardship of the species and its habitat. Previous surveys in the area have only confirmed one occurrence, at Jerry Sulina Municipal Park in 2007 (Semproni, 2007). However, very few other water bodies in the watershed have been properly assessed. In order to establish the true extent of the population within the watershed, it is imperative that a thorough survey of the entire area be conducted. Status The federally endangered and red-listed Pacific Coast population of the Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii ) is in danger of becoming extirpated in British Columbia (COSEWIC, 2006). This species currently occupies 71 known sites across the south coast of B.C., from the Lower Mainland/Fraser River Valley through parts of Vancouver Island, some Gulf Islands, and up through the Sunshine Coast as far north as Powell River and Texada Island (Western Painted Turtle Recovery Team, 2010; Unpubl. data, 2011). Across its range, the Pacific Coast Western Painted Turtle inhabits shallow lakes and wetlands. Its range coincides with some of the most densely populated areas of British Columbia, and the habitat in which it lives has been hardest hit by unsustainable development practices. It is estimated that over 87% of the wetlands and shallow lakes on the south coast of B.C have been lost due to agriculture and expanding urbanization (Boyle, 1997). Remaining wetlands and riparian habitats are degraded and lack critical habitat features needed to sustain the endangered Western Painted Turtle and associated species at risk. Currently, 16 occupied sites are known in the Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley, with nearly all of the populations in the region at risk of extirpation, with less than 20 individuals present (Kilburn and Mitchell, 2011; A. Mitchell, 2011). Of these 16 sites only one exists in the Alouette Watershed and the 1 1 individual observed at that site, Jerry Sulina Municipal Park, has not been observed since 2007 (Semproni and Oglivie, 2007). Within the watershed the Western Painted Turtle is listed as species of high conservation concern in the BC Hydro Alouette Watershed Species of Interest Action Plan , with reference to habitat restoration and possible reintroduction as ways to support species recovery in the watershed (BC Hydro, 2011). The site management plan for the currently occupied site is provided in this document (Appendix I) Threats The Western Painted Turtle faces a variety of threats including; residential and commercial development, agriculture and aquaculture, energy production and mining, transportation and service corridors, biological resource use, human intrusions and disturbance, natural system modifications, invasive and other problematic species and genes pollution, and climate change and severe weather (as listed as Threats 1-10 in Recovery Strategy, The Western Painted Turtle Recovery Team, 2010). In order to best promote recovery for painted turtles, sites need to first be identified and threats assessed. Actions to mitigate these threats are then proposed. Recommendations for the site-specific threats for occupied sites or sites with potentially suitable habitat will be provided in this document. Species Description The Western Painted Turtle ( Chrysemys picta bellii ) is the only remaining freshwater turtle native to British Columbia (The Western Painted Turtle Recovery Team, 2010). It has a low domed, unkeeled carapace that is dark green to brown, sometimes with wormy patterns in smaller turtles, particularly males (Gregory and Campbell, 1987, Conant and Collins, 1998 and Pers. obs. Mitchell and Currie, 2011). The plastron and bridge are bright orange-red with intricate patterns of dark and light colours that extend to the edge of the plastron. The head legs and tail are dark green with irregular bright yellow stripes (Macartney, 1985) (Figure 1). Females are generally larger than males, reaching lengths of up to 25 cm, while males rarely reach more than 20 cm. Males have long front claws (females front claws are typically less than 1.1cm) and their cloaca is located farther down on the tail (Iverson, 1993) (Figure 2). Figure 1. The dark carapace, intricately patterned orange-red plastron and yellow-striped head, legs, and feet of the Western Painted Turtle. 2 Figure 2. The different position of the cloaca along the tail in male (left) and female (right) Western Painted Turtles Although the Western painted Turtle is the only extant native turtle in British