Wildlife Diversity Program Quarterly Report for April–June 2026
Growing Our Bog Turtle Populations One Year at a Time: An Update On North Carolina’s Bog Turtle Headstart Program by Gabrielle Graeter, Reptile Biologist, Western Region
I n North Carolina, decades of human-driven habitat impacts have led to fewer than 10% of our known bog turtle ( Glypte- mys muhlenbergii ) populations being considered viable. One of the ways we help sustain the remaining populations is by bol- stering recruitment of juvenile turtles across the landscape. We use two main strategies to increase the number of young turtles entering a population each year. The first is using predator-ex- cluder cages around nests that we find, allowing the eggs to incubate in the wild and hatch while minimizing the threat of predation. The other strategy is to transport eggs from wild nests to our partners at Zoo Knoxville to incubate and rear the hatchling turtles through their first nine months, giving them a ‘headstart’ on survival once released back to the wild. This year marked the fifth year that we have been using a ‘headstart’ program for bog turtles across their North Carolina range, and we are seeing some promising results from our work. Given that bog turtles are not mature until age six to eight years and the number released each year is relatively small, determin- ing success requires a lot of patience. Since we began in 2021, we have collected 299 eggs from 93 nests in North Carolina and released 209 juvenile headstarted bog turtles back into the wild. Eggs collected for headstarting have a 72% success rate of hatch- ing, which is significantly higher than what is reported in the literature for wild nests with no intervention (15 - 33% hatch rate). While we are unable to estimate survival rates to repro- ductive age on headstarted turtles at this point in the program, we have more than doubled one population from only five known turtles in 2018 to a minimum of 12 adult turtles in 2025 and are also seeing repeated captures of headstarted individuals across all of our participating sites. In North Carolina, our populations are benefiting from our continued efforts to increase population sizes and protect indi- viduals from risks at their most vulnerable life stage. In May 2026, we signed another agreement with Zoo Knoxville to con- tinue this collaborative program for another five years. In June 2026, with the help of our partners, we were able to collect more than 90 eggs from 28 nests across nine sites for the headstarting project. Once they hatch in August, the Zoo will rear them through the winter until their release in May 2027 into their original bogs. As we continue this vital work and the dataset grows, we will have more information to share and to help inform future conservation decisions.
ROSIE RONCA/NCWRC
NCWRC staff and partners dedicate hundreds of hours every summer to finding bog turtles nests to protect, like the one pictured here, both through headstarting and in-situ predator excluder cages. Every nest that we are able to find represents an opportunity to grow these pop- ulations and conserve this species.
ROSIE RONCA/NCWRC
Juvenile bog turtles from the 2025 cohort (released in 2026) were incubated and reared at Zoo Knoxville for the first 9 months of their lives, during which they received regular check ups to track growth and condition. In May of 2026, these individuals were released back to their natal bogs after having grown to the size of 3-year-old wild bog turtles.
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