Annika Hellerud

Turtle road mortality is an increasing threat to turtle populations in North America, and around the world. In Minnesota specifically, more than 700 turtles were killed by vehicles among 30 sites over the past three years. Hennepin county in particular has an urban landscape with wetlands that are often bisected by roads. Previous research has shown that proximity of a road to water, vegetative coverage, traffic volume, and time of year all contribute to turtle road mortality. Our goal was to find an optimal sampling method to reduce bias in turtle road mortality research in Hennepin County. I conducted 45 surveys, spanning 90 hours of survey time along 1,350 road miles from May through August 2021. The sample size was small but suggestive. Most dead turtles were within 100 meters of water and were more likely to be found on roads with higher traffic volume. Living turtles were more likely to be found on roads with lower traffic volume. Better understanding of turtle road mortality will come from monitoring roads with high traffic volume (>5,000 cars/day) that are within 100 meters of water.