{"id":11183,"date":"2012-06-09T10:20:49","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T15:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11183"},"modified":"2012-06-09T10:20:49","modified_gmt":"2012-06-09T15:20:49","slug":"wareham-field-of-dreams-for-rare-terrapins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=11183","title":{"rendered":"Wareham “Field of Dreams” (for Rare Terrapins)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Broadmarsh Terrapin Nester #816<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On Friday Terrapin #816 swam ashore from the Broadmarsh River in Wareham to lay her first nest of the year.\u00c2\u00a0 Lucky for her, and her offspring, the Zollo Family has created a “Field of Dreams” for terrapins by transforming their exquisite bayside property into a turtle garden, a wildlife sanctuary for threatened diamondback terrapins.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin 850:\u00c2\u00a0 First Broadmarsh Nester, July 2007<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The story began back in 2007.\u00c2\u00a0 Michael Zollo had been a student at Tabor Academy\u00c2\u00a0where Turtle Journal’s\u00c2\u00a0Sue Wieber Nourse held the Jaeger Chair for Marine Studies.\u00c2\u00a0 He followed closely the discovery of threatened diamondback terrapins in Buzzards Bay by Wieber Nourse’s students in her Advanced Marine Science research course.\u00c2\u00a0 (See Students Follow Clues to Rare Turtle; Tabor Research May Help Increase Threatened Species, December 2003<\/a>.)\u00c2\u00a0 So, when a terrapin came ashore during the July 4th weekend of 2007\u00c2\u00a0on the Zollo property off Broadmarsh River in Wareham, they knew what to do and whom to call:\u00c2\u00a0 the Turtle Journal team.<\/p>\n

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Zollo Family and Don Lewis with Terrapin, July 2007<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Michael (left), Louis (center) and Michele (right, holding turtle) observe as Don Lewis confirms the nest and protects the eggs.\u00c2\u00a0 They learn that their property is perfect nesting habitat abutted by a pristine nursery salt marsh.\u00c2\u00a0 And they want to know what they can do to help this rare and threatened species in their own backyard.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Broadmarsh Turtle Garden in Bloom (July 2008)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, Virginia.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only is there a Santa Claus, but one family can make a heroic difference in protecting endangered species.\u00c2\u00a0 Their home was already a beautiful wildlife sanctuary, yet there was almost no unvegetated upland nesting for terrapins.\u00c2\u00a0 Michele and Louis applied to the Wareham Conservation Commission to bring in tons and tons of perfect sand to create a huge “turtle garden,” completely free of predatory vegetation and nearly a foot deep to support terrapin nesting.\u00c2\u00a0 By the next summer, terrapin mommas were frequenting the new garden and their babies-in-waiting were protected by predator excluders.\u00c2\u00a0 Thanks to Michele and Louis, hundreds of hatchlings emerge safely in the fall … each year …\u00c2\u00a0to begin to restore Buzzards Bay’s depresssed population of these rare turtles.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, a genuine Hollywood ending:\u00c2\u00a0 “If you build it, they will come.”<\/p>\n

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Michele Zollo Relocates Nest to Turtle Garden<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Back to the future last Friday, Michele welcomed the fourth terrapin nester of this year, #816.\u00c2\u00a0 She had laid her nest fifty feet from the sandy turtle garden, amidst grassy roots that can invade turtle eggs and destroy hatchlings.<\/p>\n

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Amazing Consistency of Terrapin Nesting<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Not surprising for Terrapin #816.\u00c2\u00a0 As most terrapins do, she comes to the same spot every year as is confirmed by this photograph of her 2010 nest.\u00c2\u00a0 The hope is that her babies, when they emerge, will be imprinted to the sand of the turtle garden.<\/p>\n

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Terrapoin 816’s Fifteen Perfect Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As she has done so faithfully for five years now, Michele followed perfect protocol in immediately harvesting the eggs and relocating them to the much more viable sand of the turtle garden.\u00c2\u00a0 Fifteen beautiful, freshly laid eggs representing the future of diamondback terrapins in Buzzards Bay.<\/p>\n

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Terrapin 816 Returns to Broadmarsh River<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After yielding her updated measurements to Sue Wieber Nourse and her eggs to the Zollo turtle garden, Terrapin 816 headed back into Broadmarsh River.\u00c2\u00a0 We are all planning a “Welcome Home Party” for June 2015 when we should see the first babies from the turtle garden returning as adult mommas to create their own nests full of hope and promise for diamondback terrapins in Buzzards Bay.\u00c2\u00a0 When they do, it will be thanks to the efforts of the Zollo Family and folks like them who take it upon themselves to build fields of dreams\u00c2\u00a0to conserve\u00c2\u00a0nature for\u00c2\u00a0future generations of terrapins\u00c2\u00a0… and people, too.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Broadmarsh Terrapin Nester #816 On Friday Terrapin #816 swam ashore from the Broadmarsh River in Wareham to lay her first nest of the year.\u00c2\u00a0 Lucky for her, and her offspring, the Zollo Family has created a “Field of Dreams” for terrapins by transforming their exquisite bayside property into a turtle garden, a wildlife sanctuary for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11183"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11239,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11183\/revisions\/11239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}