Life gets better for bog turtle in Octoraro
By P.j. Reilly, Intelligencer Journal Staff
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Feb 17, 2006 12:18 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY , PA - The fencing is up. The trees and shrubs have been planted. Nature will take care of the rest.
An environmental wrong in part of the Octoraro Creek watershed is being corrected, according to Scott Reinhart, a biologist with Ducks Unlimited.
Octoraro Watershed Association, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Ducks Unlimited recently completed a five-year $200,000 project in the watershed that restored 28 acres of wetlands and is keeping livestock out of the water on just over two miles of four southern Lancaster County creeks.
"Songbirds are coming back, waterfowl are using the area more and insect life in the stream is increasing, which means there's more fish, as well," Reinhart said.
But the primary beneficiary of the effort, according to Reinhart, will be Lancaster County's famous bog turtle.
Bog turtles are on the federal threatened species list and Pennsylvania's endangered species list.
One of the places where bog turtles can be found is Lancaster County.
According to Reinhart, Ducks Unlimited spearheaded the recently completed wetlands-restoration project on five Amish farms along Octoraro Creek, Nickel Mines Run, Bowery Run and Meetinghouse Creek that were identified as areas where bog turtles live.
The Octoraro Creek watershed's 34 miles of tributaries and branches drain 208 square miles in Lancaster and Chester counties and Cecil County, Maryland.
"Just about 67 percent of the land in the Octoraro watershed is used for agriculture, so there's a lot of farm runoff polluting the streams," Reinhart said.
In the Ducks Unlimited project area, fencing was erected to keep livestock out of the streams and adjacent wetlands, where the bog turtles live.
Also, native trees and shrubs were planted to stabilize streambanks, minimize erosion and act as a filter, preventing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous from polluting the water.
Reinhart said similar projects are under way by various organizations, including Ducks Unlimited, throughout the watershed.
"Work in the Octoraro watershed is far from over," he said. "We've got a long way to go, but it's encouraging to see some positive results."