Dreslik said the biggest challenge Blanding’s turtle conservation will have in the Chicago area is the landscape.
“It’s highly fragmented by roads, by industrial areas, by urbanization,” he said.
That’s one reason Chicago Wilderness is partnering with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to create a statewide Blanding’s turtle recovery plan, he said.
“We’ve done radio telemetry, tracking turtles at a very large site at Goose Lake Prairie (in Grundy County),” Dreslik said. “Those turtles were capable of moving many kilometers between wetlands. “