Blanding's turtle COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 12

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Existing Protection or Other Status Designations

The Blanding’s Turtle population in Nova Scotia received status under COSEWIC in 1993 when it was designated as Threatened. At that time, the majority of known turtles occurred within Kejimkujik N.P., where its habitat and populations are protected federally. Since then, it has become clear that the majority of turtles occur in working landscapes outside the national park. In 2001, Nova Scotia designated the population as Endangered (Sherman Boates, Tom Herman, pers. comm. Jan. 24, 2005). In Ontario, Blanding’s Turtle was designated as Threatened by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in 2004 (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources 2004) under the recommendation of COSSARO in 2001 (Austen and Oldham 2001). In Québec, the Provincial Advisory Committee recommended that the Blanding’s Turtle be designated as Threatened in 2003. It has also been ranked by NatureServe as S1 in Québec. In the United States, the Blanding’s Turtle is listed at some level of peril in 14 of 15 states where it is found (Table 1).

The IUCN status is LR (Lower Risk) and the Global Status is G4. In Canada and the U.S., the National Status is N4.