Turtles get their day in the sun at the Chesapreakness

Turtles get their day in the sun at the Chesapreakness
By DEBBIE HOUGH, For The Capital

"On your marks ... Get set ... Go!"

With those words from Marguerite Whilden, the Chesapreakness was on. With necks extended, the contenders' sleek, smooth limbs scrambled for the finish line.

And scrambled. And scrambled some more.

The drawn-out race included nine diamondback terrapins lined side by side. Although it was no Preakness, the reptiles Ms. Whilden has studied for years crawled relatively quickly down a cement boat ramp to a shrub-lined marsh along Broadwater Creek in Churchton.

Along with a similar race Saturday in Shady Side and others around the Chesapeake Bay, Sunday's event was organized in honor of Terrapin Day and recognized the official state reptile and efforts to restore it.

"We really look for communities that are interested in looking out for the species, and I came away feeling very positive about the diverse group governing Broadwater Creek. It is genuinely a supportive habitat and community," said Ms. Whilden, the state's leading expert on terrapins.

The organization she co-founded, the Terrapin Institute and Research Consortium at Discovery Village, organized the races to raise turtle awareness and release captured terrapins back to the wild. In all, several hundred terrapins were released around the bay in hopes that they'll re-establish themselves during the nesting season, late May through mid-July.

Before Sunday's post time, the terrapins in Churchton were handled by 25 children as 50 adults looked on. Mickey Sweeney, a student volunteer at the consortium, described how to count annuli marks - horizontal lines on the lower shell - to determine a turtle's age, similar to counting growth rings on a tree.

The turtles, mostly from the lower bay, where development is scarcer and turtles more abundant, were bought from seafood dealers for $4 to $10 apiece. In addition to the release project, the buy-backs are the Terrapin Institute's best method of gauging the harvested population.

Ms. Whilden said her research reveals that terrapins tend to stay in their own microhabitats their entire life, potentially living 40 to 50 years.

"They are very innocuous defenseless creatures, and while not the sharpest tool in the shed, they have managed to survive for 230 million years, evolving and adapting," said Ms. Whilden.

At Broadwater Creek, 14-year-old John Gibson wowed the terrapin expert with his knowledge, sharing anecdotes of his own swamp expeditions and professing a predilection toward herpetology.

"That's pure delight to find a student already intrigued," said Ms. Whilden.

Discovery Village's terrapin day featured a tree-planting along newly named Turtle Cove, where a three-year, $110,000 bulkhead removal project was just completed, including creation of an eco-island 15 feet offshore in foot-deep Parrish Creek.

Recently 700 tons of coarse-grain sand were hauled in to recreate a beach, and a forest buffer consisting of 400 feet of shoreline trees and shrubs extending 50 feet landward were planted on Saturday.

One hundred and fifty native species were planted, such as black gum, pin and willow oaks, and winter and bay berry shrubs. Smooth-cord grass and salt-marsh hay planted are ideal for the area's inter-tidal fringe marsh.

"It's a high-energy tidal area," said Kevin Smith of the DNR, who helped to plan and orchestrate the project with the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Tree-mendous Maryland and Discovery Village. "The native grasses we used will put out extensive root systems that knit the shoreline, providing excellent stabilization."

He's hopeful that the habitat will attract molting crabs, small fish and the released terrapins, who are thought to return to lay eggs at the same spot year after year.

The released turtles were all tagged with 3/8-inch red plastic pieces stapled tightly to their top shell. Anyone who finds a tagged turtle should call the consortium at 410-370-9171. Ms. Whilden asked that the tags not be removed beforehand.

"We are already getting calls from Sherwood Forest, Herald Harbor and Flag Ponds, and I feel that the terrapins released in South County are in good hands as well," said Ms. Whilden.

Debbie Hough is a freelance writer in Churchton.

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