Northern Forest

FOCAL SPECIES: Wood Turtle, Glyptemys insculpta

The forests of northern New England and New York are a patchwork of privately managed timberlands with isolated reserves, public forests, state parks, and wildlife management areas scattered throughout. Despite intensive industrial infrastructure in many areas, the region presents many unique opportunities to sustain intact landscapes for wildlife while maintaining New England's logging industry. Within this broad area, our research has demonstrated that while many rivers support Wood Turtles, hotspots of successful recruitment and high population density are rare on the landscape. ATO maintains long-term observatories in twelve northern rivers in partnership with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MEDIFW), the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFG), and private landowners. Further, our habitat and population analyses on these rivers are focusing conservation, management, and mitigation efforts.