NON-FEDERAL CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES 



Conservation activities directed towards preservation of the mud 

 turtle and its habitat in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri by industry and 

 state agencies have been extensive (Dodd, 1982). Each of the three states 

 protects the turtle as endangered; Iowa since 1977, Illinois since 1978 

 and Missouri since 1979. The largest known population is located at Big 

 Ssuid Mound, Iowa, where private industry has assumed responsibility for 

 preservation of the habitat and the turtle as described below. 

 Nevertheless, the status of the turtle is independently monitored by the 

 Iowa Conservation Commission which has published an article including 

 information on the mud turtle (Roosa, 1978). 



Illinois, as described by Dodd (1982), has been active with regards 

 to conservation of the turtle. Activities funded by the State have 

 included surveys to evaluate its distribution and status (Morris, 1978) 

 and ecological studies of the turtle at Sand Ridge State Forest for the 

 purpose of developing a management program (Becker, 1980). The Illinois 

 Department of Conservation published an information article about the 

 turtle (Morris and Smith, 1981). As for Iowa, Roosa (1978) of the Iowa 

 Conservation Commission published an information paper on the mud turtle. 



The Missouri Department of Conservation has also expressed tangible 

 evidence of their desire to protect mud turtle populations. The State has 

 encouraged and supported ecological studies, provided technical assistance 

 to individual land owners and is pursuing the opportunity to purchase 

 privately-owned lands containing the second largest known population of 

 the turtle (Dodd, 1982). 



The Big Sand Mound site in Iowa is ringed by industry, namely Iowa- 

 Illinois Gas and Electric Company (IIGE) and Monsanto. Both industries 

 have contributed in a major way towards the conservation of the habitat 

 and its residents, including the mud turtle. First, IIGE in the mid- 

 1970's established the Big Sand Mound Nature Reserve on 420 acres of their 

 property which was supplemented by 115 acres of Monsanto's property in 

 1981. As an advisory group for the management of the Big Sand Mound 

 ecosystem, the Louisa Ecological Advisory Committee was established in 

 1977 by IIGE. This advisory group, consisting of representatives from 

 private sector, state and federal government, is in part charged with the 

 development of a msuster plan for management and protection of the Big Sand 

 Mound Nature Reserve over the long-term (50 years). Monsanto is also 

 providing assistance in the development of this plan. 



The development of the master plan will be based largely upon a five- 

 year study (1978-1982) conducted by Drake University with funding from 

 IIGE and the 1979 study conducted by LGL Ecological Research Associates, 

 Inc. with funding from Monsanto. Preliminary management procedures and 

 experiments have already been implemented and include fencing of the site 

 and controlling access, diking and filling drainage areas to control run- 

 off of waters that might be of adverse quality, predator removal 

 experiments, eradication of exotic plant species and, in 1979, pumping 80 

 million gallons of water into Spring Lake to raise the water level. Of 

 these, all but the latter activity appeared to have greatly benefitted the 



