On the Move<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/blandings-turtle-cwf-side-profile-pond-1100x640.jpg\")
Blanding’s Turtle \u00a9 CWF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIsn\u2019t that good enough? Isn\u2019t protecting wetlands two kilometres from where a Blanding\u2019s Turtle<\/a> was seen unreasonable? Surely Blanding\u2019s Turtles don\u2019t wander that far. In fact, Blanding\u2019s Turtles are very mobile and they make use of a variety of habitats over the course of the spring and summer. One study from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario found that some turtles tracked using radio transmitters moved more than two kilometres and one female moved six kilometres! Another study in Massachusetts tracked a Blanding\u2019s Turtle that moved over three kilometres and many others moved over one kilometre. I have radio-tracked Blanding\u2019s Turtles and have seen these kinds of movements for myself. One adult female I tracked moved further than one and a half kilometres.<\/p>\nBlanding\u2019s Turtles don\u2019t just move for fun, they need to move. A shallow wetland in spring might warm up faster and be good for feeding. If that wetland dries up, they may move to a deeper wetland. As the summer progresses they may move from one wetland to another like a diner at a buffet restaurant sampling the different food areas. And come late fall, the turtles will move to another wetland to spend the winter. One wetland is not enough! A study in Maine found that a Blanding\u2019s Turtle could make use of up to 20 different wetlands over the course of the active season!<\/p>\n
Much Less Protection for Ontario’s At-risk Turtles<\/h3>\n
Given that amount of movement and the number of wetlands that can be used, protecting one wetland is not enough. How does this play out on the ground? Since 2017, the CWF turtle team has been surveying for Blanding\u2019s Turtles to find them in previously undocumented areas. We knew that each point on the map could protect numerous wetlands for Blanding\u2019s Turtles and all the other species that depend upon those waterbodies. Now that protection is greatly reduced.<\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Figure-3-969x640.jpg\")
Aerial image showing wetlands (blue patches) and the location of a Blanding\u2019s Turtle found by the CWF turtle team (yellow spot). Under the Endangered Species Act all of the wetlands in the image would be protected but under the much weaker Species Conservation Act only the wetland where we found the turtle would receive habitat protection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nLook at the aerial image in this blog. The yellow point represents where we observed a Blanding\u2019s Turtle in a wetland. The blue patches are wetlands as defined by the Ontario government. Under the old Endangered Species Act all of the wetlands in the image would be protected by that one observation of the Blanding\u2019s Turtle. In fact, even more wetlands would be protected as the image just shows wetlands roughly 1 km from the Blanding\u2019s Turtle observation. Under the new Species Conservation Act<\/em> only the small blue patch where we saw the turtle would be protected. We would have to find and document a Blanding\u2019s Turtle in each of the other wetlands to protect them as well.<\/p>\nHow You Can Help<\/h3>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/blanding-turtle-basking-log-david-seburn-1100x640.jpg\")
Blanding\u2019s Turtle basking on a sunny day. The bright yellow throat is clearly visible. \u00a9David Seburn | CWF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhat can we do about the lack of habitat protection for our threatened and endangered species? Write your Member of Provincial Parliament<\/a>. Tell them we need more habitat protection for these species. And if you see a Blanding\u2019s Turtle please take a clear photo of it and post it to iNaturalist.ca<\/a>. It may protect another wetland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To protect endangered species we also need to protect the habitat they rely upon. That\u2019s a pretty basic idea. To protect a forest bird, we need to protect the forest…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[631],"tags":[984,3654,194],"class_list":["post-16920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect-with-nature","tag-blandings-turtle","tag-ontario","tag-species-at-risk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16923,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16920\/revisions\/16923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Isn\u2019t that good enough? Isn\u2019t protecting wetlands two kilometres from where a Blanding\u2019s Turtle<\/a> was seen unreasonable? Surely Blanding\u2019s Turtles don\u2019t wander that far. In fact, Blanding\u2019s Turtles are very mobile and they make use of a variety of habitats over the course of the spring and summer. One study from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario found that some turtles tracked using radio transmitters moved more than two kilometres and one female moved six kilometres! Another study in Massachusetts tracked a Blanding\u2019s Turtle that moved over three kilometres and many others moved over one kilometre. I have radio-tracked Blanding\u2019s Turtles and have seen these kinds of movements for myself. One adult female I tracked moved further than one and a half kilometres.<\/p>\n Blanding\u2019s Turtles don\u2019t just move for fun, they need to move. A shallow wetland in spring might warm up faster and be good for feeding. If that wetland dries up, they may move to a deeper wetland. As the summer progresses they may move from one wetland to another like a diner at a buffet restaurant sampling the different food areas. And come late fall, the turtles will move to another wetland to spend the winter. One wetland is not enough! A study in Maine found that a Blanding\u2019s Turtle could make use of up to 20 different wetlands over the course of the active season!<\/p>\n Given that amount of movement and the number of wetlands that can be used, protecting one wetland is not enough. How does this play out on the ground? Since 2017, the CWF turtle team has been surveying for Blanding\u2019s Turtles to find them in previously undocumented areas. We knew that each point on the map could protect numerous wetlands for Blanding\u2019s Turtles and all the other species that depend upon those waterbodies. Now that protection is greatly reduced.<\/p>\n Look at the aerial image in this blog. The yellow point represents where we observed a Blanding\u2019s Turtle in a wetland. The blue patches are wetlands as defined by the Ontario government. Under the old Endangered Species Act all of the wetlands in the image would be protected by that one observation of the Blanding\u2019s Turtle. In fact, even more wetlands would be protected as the image just shows wetlands roughly 1 km from the Blanding\u2019s Turtle observation. Under the new Species Conservation Act<\/em> only the small blue patch where we saw the turtle would be protected. We would have to find and document a Blanding\u2019s Turtle in each of the other wetlands to protect them as well.<\/p>\n What can we do about the lack of habitat protection for our threatened and endangered species? Write your Member of Provincial Parliament<\/a>. Tell them we need more habitat protection for these species. And if you see a Blanding\u2019s Turtle please take a clear photo of it and post it to iNaturalist.ca<\/a>. It may protect another wetland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much Less Protection for Ontario’s At-risk Turtles<\/h3>\n
How You Can Help<\/h3>\n