Wildlife Diversity Program Quarterly Report for January–March 2025
O n the morning of Friday, September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina. Catastrophic wind, flood- ing, and heavy rain began in the area on September 25th and lasted for days following the direct hit of the hurricane. Many wildlife species and habitats were affected by this historic event, including mountain bogs and bog turtles. The southern lineage of the bog turtle ( Glyptemys muhlenbergii ) is both federally threatened (S/A) and state threatened, and under review for full federal listing under the Endangered Species Act by the USFWS. Unfortunately, four of the top five bog turtle populations in the state were heavily impacted by the storm. These impacts include extensive amount of time sub- merged under flood waters and swift currents during the storm, as well as impacts to the habitat, like scouring and deposition of sedi- ment, rubble, and debris. At several bogs, the degree of impact from sediment deposition was deemed an emergency for this already imperiled species. Due to the sensitivity of the habitat and the need to minimize additional harm to the habitat and bog turtles, most of the work had to be done by hand. Also, despite having limited funding and staffing, we needed to accomplish as much as possible before turtles became active in April. This meant using shovels and buckets to scoop up sediment and rocks and haul the material out of the bog by hand. Due to the short timeframe and habitat sensitivity, we reached out to trusted conservation partners to ask for help. In February 2025, NCWRC Wildlife Diversity staff put out a call to our conservation partners requesting assistance with sediment removal at the most impacted bogs. To our great relief, they came through in a big way! At the most impacted bog, floodwaters deposited 12–24 inches of sediment across a large proportion of the wetland. In collabora- tion with our partners, we focused our efforts on restoring the high- est-quality habitat areas to make them suitable for turtles again. While we did make a lot of progress, this site still needs 10 or more days of work due to the incredible amount of sediment that washed in. At the second bog, sediment and debris were deposited from stream floodwaters, but luckily only in the lower portion of the bog. We spent four days there focused on removing the sandy sediment deposits as best we could from the areas used most frequently by bog turtles before the storm. At a third site, the primary impact was rubble inundation up to 3–4 feet thick over about 15% of the wet- land. A portion of the wetland was effectively destroyed; where before the storm there had been deep mucky soils and wetland plants, there was a thick layer of rocks. The Nature Conservancy hired a heavy-machinery contractor to remove the upper layers of rubble; we spent four additional days removing material by hand Post-Helene Bog Restoration Work by Gabrielle Graeter, Western Region Reptile Biologist
NCWRC
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with the help of volunteers. The fourth bog that we worked in had large mounds of gravel deposited in a concentrated area, but we accomplished a lot with the one day we had allotted. Alongside our partners, we worked more than 420 hours in these four bogs to address impacts from Hurricane Helene. The bogs benefited from 49 volunteers from a diverse group of organi- zations, agencies, and the public, with representatives from multi- ple NCWRC divisions and programs, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, Zoo Knoxville, NC State Parks, Western Carolina University, Appalachian State University, The Nature Conservancy, Tangled Bank Conservation, NC Natural Heritage Program, US Forest Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. We could not have accomplished what we did without so much enthusiastic help. These bogs are in much better shape now than before our work- days, but there is still a lot more to do. Top: Michael Ogle with Zoo Knoxville helps remove sediment from priority bog habitat that was deposited during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Middle: NCWRC staff Gabrielle Graeter and Mor- gan Whitmer work alongside Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy Technician Reese Sloan to remove sediment deposited during Hurri- cane Helene flooding in September 2024. Removing the sediment improved the wetland hydrology and allowed turtles access to high-quality nesting habitat. Bottom: Volunteers working to remove rocks that washed into a mountain bog. Due to the extent of the impact, this area will likely take years to recover.
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