Type: report

Article abstract: This study builds on the previous work by USGS and its partners in support of pond turtle restoration and management in the MSPA (Brown et al. 2015). Here we report on the continued monitoring of translocated pond turtles and removal of nonnative aquatic species is aggressively pursued. Specifically, USGS conducts bullfrog eradication surveys and monitors pond turtles at two pond turtle translocation sites (SPER and RJER) to study the response of the pond turtle and other native aquatic species to the recovery effort. The two main areas that were the focus of this study were the RJER in the Otay River watershed and SPER along the Sweetwater River. This study focused on monitoring headstarted turtles in SPER, translocated pond turtles in SPER, and the success of nonnative aquatic species removal at both sites. Pond turtle restoration and translocation experiments have been a collaborative effort between USGS and its partners: San Diego Zoo, CDFW, SDMMP, San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS). This report covers the USGS work for this pond turtle project from 01 June 2015 to 15 March 2017 and is part of a larger study to examine effectiveness of methods used for pond turtle recovery and conservation in the south coast ecoregion.