U.S. Route 7 Bypass

Eastern Box Turtle Radio-telemetry

 

           Beginning in 2006, a six year study was initiated to evaluate the impact of the then proposed U.S. Route 7 Bypass in Brookfield, Connecticut and success of the proposed mitigation package on a population of Eastern Box Turtles.  In order to evaluate the highway impacts and success of the mitigation initiatives this project was conducted in three Phases:

 

• Phase One monitoring was conducted from 2006 to 2008 prior to construction activities.

• Phase Two monitoring was conducted in 2009, during construction activities.

• Phase Three monitoring was conducted from 2009 to 2010 after construction of the U.S. Route 7 Bypass was completed.

 

           During this initiative a total of 67 box turtles were captured with a total of 41 individuals being fitted with radio-transmitters and tracked, yielding a combined 5,324 radio-tracked data points.  These data revealed an average adult home-range size of 5.72 ha (0.68 ha min; 14.8 ha max) prior to construction activities in Phase One and 1.88 ha (0.99 ha min; 2.93 ha max) after construction in Phase Three, representing a 3.84 ha decrease in home-range size from pre-construction to post-construction. 

            In addition to individual home-ranges, a population range was calculated, based on the total area, in hectares, within a 95% fixed kernel density estimator line from pre-construction to post-construction (see below).  The population range as a whole decreased drastically from 18 ha pre-construction to 4.65 ha post-construction, representing a population range reduction of 13.35 ha.