For a third year The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is encouraging residents to send in sightings of turtles online.
Report-a-Turtle is an online form where residents can upload their reported sightings of turtles within the city. Manager of Environmental Education for the parks MaryLynn Pulscher says Minneapolis is home to several species.
“We’ve got a ton of painted turtles, we’ve got a lot of snapping turtles,” Pulscher says. “And one of the biggest surprises we found is we have a lot of soft-shelled turtles in the lakes.”
In 2021 dead turtles accounted for 10% of all reported sightings. Pulscher says the ultimate goal is to increase safety in turtle habitats.
“So the information that we’re finding based on what people have submitted, is we can do a better job of providing turtle habitat,” explained Pulscher. “And then trying to increase safety between like, say a wetland and a lake.”
Information gathered from the program directly impacts plans for future habitat adaptation projects by the park board. You can report any sightings here.
Turtles are vulnerable on land and especially when crossing roads and bike paths. Adults leave the water when they move between winter and summer habitats, and to lay eggs in a nest.
In summer, two to three months after eggs are laid, baby turtles (hatchlings) head to water. Depending on temperatures and nest locations, they may move to water as late as October or remain in the nest all winter and leave the following spring.
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