UBAP herpetologist accepts position with Texas Parks and Wildlife

UBAP herpetologist Jonathan Warner accepted the position of Alligator Program Leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. An Illinois native, Jon conducted his Master’s research on Gaboon Vipers and his PhD on Nile crocodiles at the School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa before joining the UBAP team. We wish him well and look forward to continued collaboration.

Experts hope to increase population of endangered turtles in Lake County

Dreslik said the biggest challenge Blanding’s turtle conservation will have in the Chicago area is the landscape.

“It’s highly fragmented by roads, by industrial areas, by urbanization,” he said.

That’s one reason Chicago Wilderness is partnering with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to create a statewide Blanding’s turtle recovery plan, he said.

“We’ve done radio telemetry, tracking turtles at a very large site at Goose Lake Prairie (in Grundy County),” Dreslik said. “Those turtles were capable of moving many kilometers between wetlands. “

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