Enhancement of Turtle Recruitment in the Kalamazoo River (Kalamazoo River NRDAR)

On July 25, 2010, Lakehead Line 6B (Line 6B), a 30-inch diameter pipeline owned and or operated by Enbridge, Inc., ruptured near Marshall, Michigan, and discharged crude oil into a wetland adjacent to Talmadge Creek, through Talmadge Creek, and into the Kalamazoo River, a Lake Michigan tributary. Oil flowed down the river and into its floodplain for approximately 38 miles, to Morrow Lake. As a consequence, aquatic and floodplain habitats, and species using those habitats, were oiled. During spill response approximately 3,800 oiled turtles were rehabilitated and released. The primary species impacted were common map turtles (77%), snapping turtles (11%), painted turtles (6%), and eastern spiny softshell turtles (3%). The Natural Resource Trustees acting on behalf of the public have finalized a Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan Environmental Assessment, which is available at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/MichiganEnbridge. The Enhancement of Turtle Recruitment in the Kalamazoo River Project is among those projects selected by the Trustees to restore resources injured as a result of the discharge of oil into the Kalamazoo River. This project will consist primarily of capturing female turtles, using radio telemetry to track them to locate nests, constructing nest enclosures to exclude predators, and returning to the nest to determine hatching success and release hatchlings. Because all turtles that were rehabilitated and released as part of spill response were marked with internal tags or shell notched, researchers will be able to determine if turtles that they capture and track were rehabilitated in response to the Enbridge spill. Capture and release records for rehabilitated turtles will be made available to project participants. Ideally, the project will be able to combine the data to be collected with data from the previous rehabilitation efforts to address additional questions related to population structure, growth patterns, survivorship, and recruitment following environmental oil exposure. For cooperative agreements issued under this NOFO the East Lansing Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be substantially involved in the Enhancement of Turtle Recruitment in the Kalamazoo River Project under this funding opportunity. In particular, the Service will contribute to the following: on-site monitoring to document project implementation, monitoring to document ecological outcomes, and development and delivery of outreach materials to communicate to the public, stakeholders, and the Trustees the ecological outcomes of the project. As staffing and funding allows, the Service may assist with implementation of the project(s).