About Tortoise Reserve, Inc. Sanctuary Program
The sanctuary program of the Tortoise Reserve is an informal agreement with private landowners to maintain or manage lands in ways which will promote the long term interest of chelonian populations and other native wildlife. The program is not legally binding, it simply acknowledges that the landowner is interested in the maintaining wildlife habitat. Ranching, hunting, fishing and other traditional land uses do not preclude lands from being in the program as long as activities are within the norms of the region, do not conflict with good land ethics, and have low impact on non-game wildlife populations. In order for lands to qualify for the program they must meet one or more of the following criteria; 1) be at least one hectare in size and support self-sustaining populations of at least one chelonian species, 2) protect a significant aspect of some stage of a turtle's life history needs (i.e., nesting beaches), or 3) house a captive breeding population of one or more chelonian species whose native populations are at risk and the breeding program is part of a planned conservation effort. Private lands which are already in various formal and legally binding conservation easements can also be participate in our program. State and national parks, national forests and other government-owned lands do not qualify for this program in that it is expected that turtle and other wildlife already receive long term protection on these lands. How to apply. Please fill-out an application form and return it by mail to The Tortoise Reserve, Inc. P. O. Box 7082, White Lake, North Carolina 28337 USA. We will maintain a file on each sanctuary so photographs of habitats, turtles, or other wildlife are welcome (but not required). We may use these for newsletters and our web site. We assign your property a sanctuary number and send you a letter of acceptance once the application has been processed. Please denote whether the turtles in the program are part of a captive breeding effort (this can be marked with an *). If so, attach a one paragraph statement about the effort. In addition to listing turtles occurring on your land, if you could provide some idea of estimated population size it would be helpful (the closest order of magnitude). If buffer habitats adjoin the proposed sanctuary please make note of this. Needless to say, while chelonians are the focus of our sanctuary program other conservation attributes of the property are important to note. Please recognize that we consider landowner awareness and the educational potential of the program to be as important as actual conservation. Diamond Back Terrapin Nesting Sanctuary, Upper Chesapeake Bay, Maryland - Flags mark nest A one time registration fee of $45 (US) is requested. The money will be used to purchase sanctuary signs, cover postage for periodic mailings to participants, and provide recognition awards for the best individual sanctuary programs. The application fee will be returned if lands do not qualify. The agreement can be terminated by either the registered landowner or the Tortoise Reserve at any time by providing written notice. What we expect of landowners: It is assumed that registered land units will remain compatible for turtle and wildlife conservation for the foreseeable future. Development will be minimal and activities which are detrimental to the sanctuary concept are avoided. We would like to be notified if major development is planned or when lands change ownership. We will contact new owners to see if they care to continue participating in the program and/or remove the property from our records. Posting of sanctuary signs is an educational effort, but we do not recommend posting sensitive sites such as bog turtle habitats where the signs might attract commercial turtle collectors. Periodic updates concerning conservation efforts on individual sanctuaries are welcome, and as appropriate these will be shared with other participants. Informed management for select species of regional conservation concern is encouraged, and we would like to learn about monitoring of management activities. What you can expect from us. We provide two sanctuary signs for each registered sanctuary (additional ones are available at cost; $5 each) and periodic updates on the entire sanctuary program. We do not publicize the exact location of sanctuaries, but consider landowners to be part of an informal conservation network. We contact people that face similar conservation issues when appropriate. In addition, persons interested in informed active management may contact us regarding established protocols known to help native turtle populations. (For example, we have found seasonal use of low voltage electric fences around nesting areas is effective in the control of egg predation.)	We have a number of experts on the Tortoise Reserve Board and an advisory group who may be able to help with specific issues. We have an extensive visual library of turtle images (over 7,000 cataloged slides) and these are available for cost as prints or slides for people interested in making educational displays or giving programs on turtle conservation. A slide set explaining our sanctuary program is available for loan. We will keep information about the sanctuary program current on our web site. All participants will receive a certificate which recognizes the agreement. So what good does this all do for turtles? Minimally this is a good way to educate land owners about the needs of turtles. For most species these needs are quite modest. Small parcels of land often meet the needs for viable populations. Extensive tracts required for snow leopards, or complex networks of refuge systems required by migratory cranes are not necessary for most turtles. A protected wood lot can support a viable population of box turtles and a protected nesting beach may make the difference for the entire population of cooters inhabiting a lake. In some parts of the world private lands are actually more effective wildlife reserves than national parks because the private lands receive better protection from poachers than public ones. As the human population continues to expand, small tracts of natural landscapes supporting native wildlife become more precious, and well managed private lands in time will be more economically valuable than highly-developed sites. We hope that this program will in some way provide incentives for wildlife protection and encourage personal responsibility regarding land conservation issues. The common ground is that this program produces a network of landowners who have expressed a fondness for turtles. If we can't set examples of how to manage turtles and other native wildlife on the lands we control, what future do these same species have on private lands? At this time we have nearly half-a-million acres registered (or in the process of being registered) in 30 different tracts. Tortoise Reserve Sanctuaries have been established in the US in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Washington state and in the Bahamas, Spain, Vietnam, and Venezuela. Collectively these sanctuaries help support populations of at least 20 species of native turtles, and they also provide homes for wood thrushes, black-tailed rattlesnakes, and red howler monkeys. Examples of sanctuaries registered in the program include terrapin nesting beaches in the Chesapeake Bay-- protected sites where land owners have not walled-off shore lines with erosion protective bulkheads, 140 acres of prime river swamp forest in eastern North Carolina, a site which supports hundreds of adult spotted turtles. Several private ranches in Venezuela not only protect target turtle species such as mata matas and other sidenecks, but they encompass several key habitats which provide homes for at least 250 species of birds, 25 species of snakes, and a number of regionally endangered mammals. Captive breeding facilities under our sanctuary program are successfully reproducing spotted turtles and bog turtles, red- and yellow-footed tortoises, and have head start programs for diamondback terrapins and the highly endangered arrau. In the Bahamas we oversee a program which maintains captive breeding groups of the two species of freshwater turtles known from that country both of which are highly endangered and whose native habitat occupies less than 25 hectares. All total, 17 species of turtles and tortoises are in captive breeding programs that are part of planned conservation and restoration efforts. Turtles protected in the Tortoise Reserve Sanctuary System The Tortoise Reserve is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to turtle conservation. In addition to 30 private landowners the following organizations are participating in this informal conservation effort: The Terrapin Institute, Green Nature Books, Island Conservation Effort, Bahamas Department of Agriculture (National Botanical Garden), and the Orinoco Foundation. We look forward to your participation in this program. Dave Lee, Director Tortoise Reserve, Inc. March 2000
"In the United States alone we are losing three million acres a year to development. This is two times faster than just ten years ago." CBS News 2000
Menu