Maine Turtle Roadkill Survey

Some MARAP iNaturalist project members may already be aware of the current Maine turtle roadkill survey, but for those that aren't the following is an announcement from Sarah Haggerty at Maine Audubon:

Greetings!

Maine Audubon is beginning the second year of an exciting effort to identify where turtles might be at risk of harm from traffic as they move across the landscape during the active season, and we are hoping you will help!

We are looking for volunteers who can commit to walking along pre-selected road segments, documenting any roadkill or live animals at risk of harm from the roadway. We are particularly interested in turtles for this project, but we would appreciate the documentation of any roadkill observations, or observations of wildlife at risk of becoming roadkill along these routes.

Survey routes have been identified using models of where roadways are near good turtle habitat. The routes are all less than one mile long, and we are asking for data to be collected once a month, at least 3 times during the active season of May through September.

Does that sound interesting to you? Do you want to contribute to science while getting outside several times over the summer? If so, we ask that all volunteers attend one of the two training sessions we are offering: March 30th 9:00-12:30 at the IFW Warden Service Headquarters in Gray, and April 6th 9:00 – 12:30 at the Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden. Refreshments will be served.

For additional information and to register for a training, please go to the “Wildlife & Roads” page on our website (https://www.maineaudubon.org/projects/road-watch/). At these trainings, we will teach volunteers how to identify different turtle species, data collection methods using iNaturalist and/or paper forms, and road safety. We will provide safety vests, data forms, and small rulers. We ask volunteers to bring smart phones if they have them (for iNaturalist) and appropriate footwear and clothing to go for a brief walk along a roadside at the training session.

There is additional background information on the project in the Habitat article from 2018 found on the Maine Audubon webpage, published last spring in Maine Audubon’s quarterly Habitat magazine. If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Haggerty at (207) 781-2330 x225 or shaggerty@maineaudubon.org.

Thank you in advance for your help, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the training sessions!

Sincerely,

Sarah A. Haggerty

Publicado el febrero 27, 2019 08:48 TARDE por trevorpersons trevorpersons

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