Submitted to the Tribune
Three western pond turtles bask on a log in an Oregon wetland. Western pond turtles are this region’s only native freshwater turtle and without conservation efforts their populations will continue to decline.
What looks and feels like a river rock, has four webbed feet, a pointy snout with beady eyes, buries itself during winter, and dines on small frogs, fish, aquatic insects and plants?
These are attributes of the two species of western pond turtle, the northwestern and the southwestern, found in ponds and streams from Baja California north through California, Oregon, and Washington and into a portion of Nevada.