Wood Turtle

Supported by the Competitive State Wildlife Grants and Regional Conservation Needs (RCN) Programs. 

Conservation Plan for the Wood Turtle in the Northeastern United States represents the cumulative product of a multi-year, proactive effort among Northeastern State Wildlife Agencies, and their partners, to articulate a strategic action plan to protect regionally significant populations of Wood Turtles in the northeastern United States. The fundamental objective of this Plan is to protect the evolutionary potential of the Wood Turtle by ensuring the persistence of functional, ecologically viable, and regionally significant populations throughout the Northeast Region. To accomplish this objective, and to effectively triage conservation efforts, we developed a spatially-explicit, stratified Wood Turtle Conservation Area Network based on the best available population, landscape, and genetic data. Ultimately—in order to achieve meaningful conservation of this unusual and iconic species--it will be necessary to stabilize and reverse population declines within this Conservation Area Network and elsewhere throughout the species range.