VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:58:10 04/03/09 Fri
Author: AF (I just love the last paragraph)
Subject: Turtle Crossing

'Turtle Crossing': Signs aim to protect troubled species as it crosses 4-lane road
By Carolyn Starks | Tribune reporter
April 5, 2009


Imagine trying to cross a four-lane highway on your knees. Now take a moment's pity on the Blanding's turtle.

It's the time of year when the rare and soon-to-be-declared endangered turtles emerge from marshes near Lake in the Hills and try to cross four lanes of busy Algonquin Road to reach their nesting ground.

To give them a fighting chance to complete their perilous journey, county officials a few years ago put up a pair of "Turtle Crossing" signs. They think it's helped reduce the number of turtle fatalities—at least they hope so.

"If it makes people ask the question, 'Why is there a turtle crossing sign on the road?' then it's worth it," said Keith Shank of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The marsh, home to the state's second largest colony of Blanding's turtles, is part of a 250-acre nature preserve that abuts Algonquin Road, where traffic zooms by at 40 m.p.h.

The turtles prefer laying their eggs on dry ground up to a mile away from water, and their homing instinct tells them to return to their birth area to build their nests.

Before development, it was an easy trip. Now, strip malls, subdivisions and roads can make it deadly, which is one reason officials said they will soon be elevated to the state's endangered species list.

The medium-size turtles are characterized by a long neck and a bright yellow throat. Much has been done to help them in the marsh. Preserving both their aquatic and dry environments is critical to survival, experts say.

When a developer built a strip mall nearby four years ago, he had to ensure artificial nesting sites were built in the preserve to try to keep the turtles away from the traffic. But some still tried to plod across the road, so when the county widened it to four lanes two years ago, the state asked it to post the "Turtle Crossing" signs.

So far, they are the only such signs in the state, Shank said, although the IDNR has asked that more be erected in other counties.

It's not the only time wildlife officials have tried to spare critters from becoming roadkill.

The U.S. Forest Service closes a road in the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois twice a year to allow migrating rattlesnakes to cross.

In McHenry County, motorists have been known to get out of their cars to help the turtles along. But they often put them right back where they started.

"For heaven's sake, if someone's going to help the turtle," Shank said, "help it cross the road to where it was going."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
Forum timezone: GMT-10
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.