A few years ago, my wife, Bev, and I were attending craft shows, street fairs and other events where we promoted our nature presentations, "Three B's Nature Programs," and our children's "Adventure Birthday Parties." We also sold homemade crafts.

What drew people to our booth was what was moving about in several aquariums and terrariums: native turtles and a red-eared slider that we purchased for our exhibit. When we first started presenting school nature programs, each of our turtles was about the size of a silver dollar. We had a mud turtle, a snapping turtle, a wood turtle and the red-eared slider.

The native turtles were caught in the wild and later returned to the same area where they were found. We were able to possess the turtles because of their use as educational examples for our nature programs.

Comments from attendees ranged from "I love turtles." to "I had a turtle when I was a little child." to "My parents bought a little turtle and a plastic bowl with a plastic palm tree at Woolworths when I was a little kid." Once we had their attention, we could engage in a conversation about turtles, our crafts and our nature and birthday party programs.

Turtles and other reptiles are under the control and protection of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PF&BC). As of Jan. 1, 2007, a possession permit has been required to possess a live reptile or amphibian.

Many are under the impression that they can pick up box turtles and other native turtles and take them home as pets. In most cases, this is not allowed. Check the reptiles and amphibians section of the PF&BC summary book for regulations.

Fines in Pennsylvania for collection and illegal possession of a bog turtle, for example, range from $250 to $5,000 and possible jail time, plus additional fines and charges from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Capture of snapping turtles is allowed, but you need to purchase a fishing license.

The bog turtle, also known as the Muhlenberg turtle, receives quite a bit of press coverage in Lehigh Valley newspapers and magazines. "Glyptemys muhlenbergii" is the Keystone State's smallest turtle, measuring a maximum of 3 to 4.5 inches in length. One of the keys to its identification is the large orange marks on both sides of the head. The rest of the shell and body are dark brown.

Bog turtles are often confused with the spotted turtle, especially when a spotted turtle lacks the traditional small yellow spots on the carapace (shell) and small orange spots on the head.

The bog turtle's press coverage stems from its very low numbers and because this turtle species occasionally causes cancellations or extended time periods to complete government bridge and road projects.

Bog turtles are now found in low numbers throughout their traditional range in southeastern Pennsylvania and they are critically or critically imperiled throughout their entire North American range. The species is classified as federally threatened on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species List.

As with many endangered and threatened wildlife species, bog turtle numbers are declining because of habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and succession (a slow natural change from one habitat type into a different habitat type). In the past when natural succession took place, the bog turtles would simply move to a nearby suitable habitat. Today, however, with the fragmentation of habitat in the bog turtles' southeastern Pennsylvania range, habitats have been isolated, often leading to localized extinction.

Bog turtles are also threatened by dwindling water quality, roadway mortalities and the predation of eggs and juveniles by higher than normal raccoon populations. Turtle collecting is another major threat. Bog turtles are considered the rarest of North American turtles and are considered to be very valuable to collectors who gather and sell reptiles illegally.

Bog turtles need specific habitat conditions. They live in wet meadows and bogs where tussock sedges and grasses cover wetlands. Sedges are grass-like plants. Tussock sedge grows in moist forests and marshes. The plants grow right at the water level or just above the water level. As the leaves grow and die, they build up around the living plant and form a tussock or little hill. Perhaps you've been fishing, hunting or hiking in a marshy area where you tried to step from tussock hill to tussock hill to avoid getting your feet wet.

This requirement for open conditions associated with early-succession of wetland habitats limits the bog turtle's natural range. They prefer deep mucky soils fed by groundwater seeps (an area where groundwater reaches the earth's surface) with only small amounts of open water. If and when any of these specific conditions change, the bog turtle population often declines or disappears entirely.

If an area is identified as a home environment for bog turtles, bridge reconstruction and roadway projects might be canceled or rerouted around the bog turtles' habitat.

It is also illegal to introduce a non-native turtle species into the natural environments of Penn's Woods. This occasionally happens when a person becomes weary of taking care of a non-native pet turtle and releases it into the local environment. Non-native wildlife species often are more aggressive than native species, thus invading and often replacing the native species.

Remember, it is unlawful to possess any native turtle species in Pennsylvania.

That's the way I see it!

To schedule programs, hikes and birthday parties: 610-767-4043; comments: bbbcole@enter.net

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&Copy; 2014 Bud Cole