Goals for 2021 and beyond include;
Construction on another large 2 to 3-acre turtle enclosure with a mosaic of terraced ponds and shallow stream beds with hibernaculas (a spot/structure where creatures hibernate through the winter).
Completion of bat habitat: currently under construction, including a wintering cave with access for health exams and fungal treatment.
Construction of a Black Racer pen of approximately 2 acres of enclosure of 4ft high recycled metal panels containing a hibernaculum, a pond, enriched-habitat, and self-feeding stations. This will be stocked with hatchling snakes that will then hibernate and build fidelity to their den once they grow large enough to scale the pen. It will then be taken down and moved to start a new colony elsewhere, as the first one will be well established. There are many benefits of these remarkable creatures, both in pest, rodent control, and agriculture. Black Racers will be returned to the land they once occupied.
Continue to expand agroforestry; improve feeder fish fisheries.
Survey and the colony production and management of the rusty banded bumblebee, specimens have been seen and collected repeatedly for several years at future satellite sites of BHPS. One in Northeastern VT and the 2nd in central Maine where a specimen was obtained for verification.
Typical annual operating costs include:
Food, vitamin supplements, supplies for egg incubation, and repairs and maintenance to the pens.
Additional costs include; PROPERTY TAX AND RENT.
Fuel and repairs for construction equipment and machinery for Agroforestry, pond, and pen construction, including; tractor, excavator, sawmill, etc… possible updates to newer equipment.
A tagging system is needed. turtles are currently separated in pens by year hatched. A stainless steel or titanium tiny anchor screw and bird banding tag system are needed for this year. Anchoring stamped aluminum data # tag to the back margin of the shell.
Lab work testing for diseases for turtles to be released. All turtles are kept in a quarantine-like manner and are super healthy, but screening should still be done as a redundant practice to ensure that no turtle released is a positive carrier of a pathogen that could affect any wild population testing. For such pathogens like the Rampa virus or upper respiratory disease-like syndromes.
Wells need to be drilled, new ponds, new pens, enlarging/improving pens.
Financing for food crops in and around pens like strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, blueberries, blackberries, and other various types of fruit trees that produce fruit in seasons while turtles are feeding.
Production of prey food, like bloodworms, mosquito larva are currently all frozen pre-packed bloodworms are a product of China, this makes it a gamble to use them (the quality and exact sourcing of these cannot be known for certain or guaranteed). Fairy shrimp, slugs, and worms could potentially be produced. Minnows currently are produced at about 20% of the box turtle’s diet. This could be greatly increased with more financial resources.
Development of new pen design and development of self-feeding stations and development of toad and frog pens that self-feed using lights to attract insects at night contain a small pond for breeding a tadpole development. With size-restriction screen outlets that allow young frogs and toads to self-release, leaving adult breeders contained. These pens could be produced at relatively low costs annually, producing potentially thousands of toads and frogs, eventually taking animals off endangered species list like Fowler Toad, Eastern Spade-Foot Toad, and Northern Leopard Frogs, with very little work and human interaction. Once a pen is constructed, the effectiveness of light feeding frogs and toads is often seen by night fishermen with a lantern by the waterside or outside walkway lights.
A lot of people ask themselves why they should care about reptiles, amphibians, and bats. These species help the environment and us as humans. The small Brown Bat which up to 80% of its population is gone due to white-nose fungus. This fungus was possibly brought on by humans exploring European caves. The little brown bat is known for eating upwards of 1200 mosquitos per night. If we think about how many mosquitos are not being eaten due to the 80% loss in bat population, the repercussions are frightening to consider. The mosquito population could grow well out of control, not to mention the impact on pollination as bats are also known for this, in similarity to bees.
Baby turtles also eat mosquito larva from vernal pools and puddles. Most salamanders most are carnivores and eat mosquito larva.
Most frogs and toads eat algae and help maintain a healthy balance in water while adults eat insects, including mosquitos.
Anything to help swing the balance of the loss of bats to curve the rise of the mosquito population helps humans.
Mosquitos carry many diseases like; West Nile, Equine Encephalitis and malaria, and more.
Snakes are specified rodent predators, that don’t prey on or compete with many other rodent predators except other snakes. Controlling rodents that carry pathogens to ticks that carry them to humans like; Lyme disease.
People fear snakes. Snakes are cannibalistic even in the same species. Therefore, they self-regulate their own population. By killing non-venomous snakes that prey on venomous snakes could potentially help the rodent number increase, creating an environment for New England’s venomous snake population to expand. As both the timber rattlesnake and the northern copperheads are pit vipers, meaning they have heat-sensing pits located between their eyes and nostrils that sense the heat of warm-blooded prey, like mice and rats.
There is a lot of backing from wildlife authorities for birds of prey, however, the food chain starts with smaller animals like snakes and frogs. Owls eat a lot of frogs, both alive and dead, especially off of man-made roadways. Hawks are often seen carrying snakes they have caught. To support raptor programs before supporting Herpitalogical programs is likely to prove disastrous for the fragile colonies left.
BHPS approach to preserving wildlife differs from conventional approaches to preserving wildlife. It is a more hands-on approach focused on; preservation through production as opposed to simply habitat preservations, like most conventional programs. We are less focused on public education though we have great respect for those on educating the public. We feel educating the public has limited success due to the people simply not caring enough. Most people only care about how it makes them look on their social media, also a high rate of people moving throughout the country not knowing about local wildlife, proof of success is in production not speculation of population recovery.
