Dick Hakes

Special to the Press-Citizen

In an unusual first for Iowa, uniquely-trained dogs from Montana will converge upon Johnson County this spring to round up a rare turtle species for a wildlife conservation project of Iowa City-based Bur Oak Land Trust.

The concern is for the ornate box turtle, Iowa’s only native terrestrial turtle which lives on sandy prairies and open forest land. This is in sharp contrast to the river and wetland-loving snapping turtle and northern painted turtle -- and its 10 other Iowa cousin-species.

These box turtles are listed as “threatened” in Iowa, and Bur Oak Land Trust is anxious to preserve a small population found on one of the 11 properties it manages within three area counties.

“It’s shocking to see the decline in their habitat in Eastern Iowa over the decades,” said Jason Taylor, property stewardship specialist for the trust’s total of nearly 500 acres. “One of the problems is that sandy prairie is also a good place to build a house.”

Due to their threatened status, removing the box turtles from the wild is illegal in Iowa, but poaching the turtles to sell as pets is another factor in the decline, he adds. A quick internet search shows ornate box turtles for sale legally from other states in which they are more plentiful.

Enter John Rucker, a Montana dog trainer and turtle expert who travels in a modified van with his Boykin spaniels, assisting with research projects in the warmer months and camping on site. Taylor thinks his unique service is the only one of its kind in the country.

Rucker, now in his early seventies, is said to have entered the turtle-finding business almost by accident when he was training bird dogs several decades ago. While training to scent on bird species, one of his Boykins brought back a turtle instead, and soon the dog was bringing other turtles to his master, gently gripped in his mouth. Rucker used the scent in box turtle shells to train other dogs and he soon became a popular contact for researchers.

Taylor said Rucker will arrive here in late spring with his spaniels and spend a few days walking specific areas with staff. When the dogs find a box turtle, they bring it unharmed to the researchers for weighing, shell measuring and photos. The data is valuable for tracking the species health and location, plus managing its habitat to improve survival rates. The survey and management project are funded by an Iowa DNR Habitat Management grant.

“We don’t have to notch the shell or attach a tag to identify them, which has been done in other studies,” Taylor pointed out. “We take a photo of the markings on the underside of their shell which are as unique as human fingerprints. It’s as good as banding.”

The dogs are said to be extremely successful at what they do. In one Illinois study, Rucker’s canines found 85 turtles during a 10-day period, compared to 12 for human hunters. The spaniels pick up a scent trail as the reptiles move through the grass.

“The turtles are very camouflaged and not easy to find,” said Taylor. “If we can find 10 this spring with the dogs, I’ll be through the roof.”

In addition to prowling on land, box turtles are also unique in that their bottom shell is hinged to allow them to draw completely inside the shell and close it up for protection from coyotes, foxes and raccoons.

These native Iowa turtles hibernate for six months of the year, usually buried three feet deep in the sand. They need open spaces for mating and basking in the sun, which leads to “canopy reduction” activities on some properties by the Bur Oak Land Trust staff and its chainsaw-toting volunteers.

Habitat improvement to try to keep the trust’s box turtle populations at the current level will be an ongoing effort, according to Taylor.

“This project I’m on, I’ll never finish it, and I’m only 40,” he said.

The Bur Oak Land Trust was founded four decades ago to create a non-profit entity to purchase or accept parcels of land as an alternative to traditional government-based conservation land management. Learn more at www.buroaklandtrust.org.