Highway 2 Road Ecology Survey
Updates from Joshua Jones
August 25:
I remember coming around the sharp curve in the road and reminding the project’s
undergraduate thesis student that this is where we have seen some snapping turtle activity and to
be on high alert. As if by some premonition, seconds later we saw two small ovals on the road
and I knew immediately what they were. Snapper hatchlings.
The road cut straight through a wetland, with steep slopes leading down to the water on either
side, so there were guardrails up that made it impossible to pull over. I remember flooring the car
to get beyond the rails, but not in time to see one of the babies get hit right in front of me.
After that, it was all a blur.
I don’t think I’ve ever sprinted that fast in my life. When I finally made it to them, I saw that it
was the greener of the two turtles that had been hit and it was clear that there was nothing I could
do. The second turtle however, the black one, was still there. It wasn’t moving but I remember
seeing it retreat slowly into its shell as I came closer. I
remember
shouting
something, though I
don’t remember what,
out of pure elation
when I saw that it was
alive and unharmed. I
picked it up to move
off of the road and it
scampered off quickly
once it was in the
brush. That was perhaps one of the proudest moments of my life,
saving that turtle, because I knew that – in some way – I had
made a difference. All I needed to do was look behind me at the
turtle’s sibling to know that what I did mattered to someone, even if that someone was just a
little turtle.
Sept 4:
This week was by the worst in regards to species of concern.
Amidst the numerous frogs our team finds every survey, we
found fourteen snapping turtle hatchlings and twelve
milksnakes dead on the road from being hit. The one
glimmering positive was that we were able to save a fifteenth
snapping turtle hatchling by getting it off the road.