of biological studies and make recommendations for management. After 

 reviewing available data, LGL recommended four management practices that 

 should be undertaken immediately and, after meeting with representatives 

 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 1978 to outline their 

 proposals, Monsanto carried out the recommendations. These included the 

 construction of a dike to control waters that "might injure the turtle or 

 adversely alter its environment," filling a potentially hazardous mud flat, 

 assisting in the predator removal program, and pumping 80 million gallons 

 of water into Spring Lake to raise the water level (Anon., undated). The 

 latter occurred only once, and Spring Lake has been dry in 1980 and 1981. 

 In February 1981, Monsanto contacted LEAC to offer assistance in the 

 development of the nature reserve master plan and has included approx- 

 imately 115 acres in the Sand Mound Nature Reserve. Monsanto estimated 

 that it expended in excess of $500,000 in all phases of work dealing 

 with research and management of the turtle and Big Sand Mound (W. 0. 

 Carpenter, statement presented at the public meeting in Springfield, 

 Illinois, January 30, 1980). 



State activities . 



All states that contain populations of the Illinois mud turtle 

 protect the subspecies as endangered: Illinois (January 1978), Iowa 

 (October 1977), Missouri (January 1979). 



Illinois has perhaps been most active in conservation efforts. 

 After the Brown and Moll (1978) report appeared, the Illinois Department 

 of Conservation (IDC) issued a contract to Michael Morris of the Illinois 

 Natural History Survey to review the turtle's status and distribution in 

 Illinois. The results of that survey (Morris, 1978) turned up no turtles, 

 but provided a description of previously known localities and documented 

 habitat loss. 



Brown and Moll (1978) pinpointed management practices at Sand Ridge 

 State Forest that might prove detrimental to J<. _f. spooneri (Dodd, ms). 

 IDC has funded E. Moll of Eastern Illinois University to collect ecological 

 information, including movements, habitat use, density, diet, and the 

 impact of pine plantings, for the design of a managment program. In a 

 preliminary report (E. Moll, undated), recommendations were made to remove 

 pine stands in the vicinity of one pond, to establish a prairie corridor 

 between ponds A and B, to restrict the use of heavy machinery, to not 

 transplant adults as suggested by Brown and Moll (1978) between ponds, 

 and to continue to monitor the population. IDC has developed a management 

 plan for the Illinois mud turtles at Sand Ridge State Forest to include 

 these recommendations (Becker, 1980). Morris and Smith (1981) provide an 

 overview of the status of the subspecies in Illinois in a publication put 

 out by IDC. 



