April 18, 2026 • 16 mins
If you've ever driven around on a damp, spring night here in New England, you've probably seen some little animals on the move trying to cross the road in front of you. For turtles, salamanders, frogs and other like creatures, this is a crucial migration, because it's tied to breeding, feeding, and survival. Unfortunately, it can often be deadly, but a new program in New Hampshire is trying to help, with the installation of new tunnels and wildlife crossings to keep these animals safe. Sandi Houghton, a Wildlife Diversity Biologist with NH Fish and Game, joins Nichole and Brett Amy Thelen, the Science Director at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, NH, for more on this story.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. To have you with us this week. I'm
Nicole Davis. Driving around on a damp spring night around here,
there's a pretty good chance you've seen some kind of
small animal on the move trying to cross the road,
like a frog or a turtle, or a salamander or
(00:28):
something like that. For those animals though, this is not
just spending time outside roaming around the neighborhood. This is
actually crucial stuff. This is tied to breeding, feeding and survival.
But our roads are getting in the way of their
longtime migration. A single crossing attempt can turn deadly fast
for those little critters. So in New Hampshire, new wildlife
crossings are soon going to be popping up to help
(00:48):
these little animals make these important journeys without risking their
lives to do it. Sandy Hoten is a wildlife diversity
biologist with a New Hampshire fishing game. Brett Amy Thielen
is the science director of the hair They're a Center
for conservation education. Thank you both for the time, and
you know, Brett, let's talk a bit more about these
migrations and why they're so important, why these animals have
(01:09):
to do this at this time of year.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, So this time of year we have these these
spring amphibian migrations are sometimes known as big nights, and
these are breeding migrations. So these spotted salamanders, wood frogs,
spring peepers, Jefferson salamanders, they are migrating from the woods
where they spend most of their lives and where they've
just spent the winter to vernal pools and other wetlands
(01:33):
to breed, so to court, to lay eggs, and then
after a few weeks they're also migrating back to the
woods to spend the rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, And it's kind of a dangerous crossing because a
lot of these vernal pools and woods are in rural
areas where you don't really have a lot of street lights. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, there are thankfully many protected lands where these
animals never have to cross the road at all, but
on our modern landscape, there are a lot of roads
that kind of bisect these habitats that the animals need
that run between the woods and the wetlands, and even
when the lights are on, some of these critters are
pretty small. Spring peepers are about the size of the
tip of my thumb, and so even if you're driving
(02:14):
slow and there are good street lights, it can be
tough to see them, or even if you see them,
when there are so many on the road at the
same time, it can be tough to avoid them. So
they're returning to the same breeding pools that they use
year after year. So there are patterns on the landscape.
There's places where these migrations occur year after year. So
(02:36):
if you see spotted salamanders on a particular road this April,
there's a pretty good chance you'll see them their next
April too, if conditions are right.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So people might ask, why is it so important that
we keep these little guys safe and we protect them
in their frogs and salamanders, of course, but why is
this so critical?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
There's kind of I think there's two pieces to that.
One is the role that amphibians play in our ecosystems.
So they're hugely important in the food web. So there
are food for foxes and turkeys and owls and turtles
and snakes, you name it. It probably eats amphibians, and
(03:15):
in turn, they're really important predators of invertebrates and insects,
so everything from earthworms to mosquito larvae. So if we
lose our amphibians, we lose a really important link in
the food web that keeps our forests healthy. And I
also always like to address the issue of roadkill because
most people don't tend to think of amphibians when they
think of roadkill, and you know, we tend to think
(03:39):
of larger animals that stay on the road longer, like
deer or squirrels or raccoons, and maybe that could hit
one at a time, But the amphibian roadkill issue is
much it's much bigger than that, and it tends to
be invisible to many of us. So on these migration nights,
there are thousands of amphibians moving all at the same time,
(04:03):
and so it doesn't take a lot of cars to
do a lot of damage. And even though most of
us don't see it because we are typically not out
on a forty five degree rainy night, and also because
these animals are so small, it's the research is showing
that it's a really significant conservation concern for both amphibians
and reptiles. So I always like to point that out
(04:24):
that it's not just one or two animals getting hit
once in a while. It's a pretty significant conservation concern
in the Northeast.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well, and there are efforts to try to help them
get around and help them cross safely. I know that
we've had a few reporters here go out on some
early spring nights. I think it was just a week
or two ago that we sent somebody out to go
in the rain and you know, make sure that everybody
got them across. Okay, tell us about how you and
volunteers are doing that up in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So I coordinate what we call the Salamander Crossing Brigade
program through the Harris Center. We work in southwest New Hampshire,
but there are similar programs all throughout the Northeast, and
we train volunteers in how to go out safely on
these big nights and safely move animals across the road.
The idea is to move them faster than they can
move themselves, and also to keep count so that we
(05:14):
can collect data that can be used for longer term
conservation solutions, which I think Sandy will talk a bit
about but the training is a big focus on safety,
how to keep yourself safe, how to safely handle the animals,
as well as where to go, how to identify all
the different species we might see out there. So there's
(05:36):
a lot of efforts underway. But I also like to
remind people that you don't have to go out on
a rainy night to help amphibians. That one of the
best things that you can do for amphibians on rainy
spring nights is simply not drive. So save your errands
for tomorrow, save your errands for the daytime when amphibians
won't be active on the roads, and just stay home.
And just doing that you could save many amphibian lives
(05:59):
without even having to go out and volunteer. We have
a dedicated group of this year. So far, already three
hundred volunteers have participated in our project and we're really
just getting started for the season. But we all can
play a part even if we don't want to go
out in the rain.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That is the best way to get active is to
not be active. It's my face, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Right, yeah, And you have my permission to sit around
on a rainy night and not.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Go anywhere, say less, I am all over it. So, Sandy,
this project we're talking about, this new project, the turtle tunnels,
so to speak, it all comes from a government grant.
So tell us about this grant and about this project overall,
and how much we're talking about and where the money
came from, that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
The new Hampshire Fish and Game Department are non game
and indiuger wildlife program in collaboration with our many partners,
but the state was the applicant for a nationally competitive
grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The grant
program is called America's Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, and it's relative
(07:00):
it's fairly competitive. So but we were able to apply
for multiple road barrier mitigation projects, including the one we're
working with Bread on that will help amphibians, but also
several for turtles as well, So it's your turtle tunnel comment.
And the total grant award is just over two point
(07:22):
six million dollars and will provide basically restoring habitat connectivity
as well as reducing them them mortality, so it's kind
of doing both things. It's reducing the risk of them
crossing the road through barriers or fencing depending on the
species and the site, and then also providing an underpass
(07:45):
for them to get under the road so it keeps
them connected and safe.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
How would these animals know how to use the crossings
as opposed to just you know, going twelve feet down
the road and going another way, But it seems to
be path of least resistance, right.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, fencing and guiding is a common trend
with any wildlife crossing. You do have some kind of
riparian species who are traveling along a river where you
might be able to you know, they're able to still
they're using many of our bridges and culverts currently, but
(08:19):
for amphibians and turtles, they really do need the guide
walls to help them to know where to go under
the road.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Sure, so tell us where these new crossings are going
in so.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
That amphibian crossing is in Keen, and then we have
one in new Market and one in Nottingham that are
focused on our at risk turtle species. The grant award
includes both planning and design as well as the implementation
of the restoration, so we'll be able to over the
next year or so work with each of the communities
(08:54):
to develop designs that for some of the crossings. There
are also they can address some flooding issues. A lot
of times with wildlife crossings where you can get a
win win win kind of scenario. We're happy to have
everyone be you know, get multiple check multiple boxes at once.
So we'll be designing over the next year or so
(09:17):
and doing all our permitting and compliance and paperwork, et cetera.
And then next year or the year after, depending on
how so's time frames go, and when we're able to
the implementation, will do construction to restore these sites. And
then we have a year from monitoring to see the
(09:38):
effectiveness and maybe if there's any need for adaptation we
can do that. So it goes through March of twenty
twenty nine. Things have been a little bit delayed already
with the grant award agency, so there may be an extension.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Let's talk really quickly bred about how crossings like this
help your work and the work you do. You're already
out there in the rain doing what you can to
get these amphibians across the road. When these crossings are
in place. What is that going to do for you?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, this is huge for us. We're really excited about
this project because for years we have been going out,
but we can't be out all night. We also aren't
out on every single possible migration night. We do our
best to predict when the migrations are going to happen,
but it's all weather dependent and the forecast sometimes changes
(10:32):
at the last minute, and so we can't be out
there all the time. And we also can't be out
there in the late summer and fall when the young
of the year are migrating away from the vernal pools
and back into the woods. That migration is not as concentrated.
It's harder to predict, and so we're there when we
can be, but we can't be there all the time.
(10:52):
And one of the first solutions we looked at for
this site is road closures, so predicting to our the
best of our ability when a big migration will happen
and closing the road to traffic. The city of Keene
has been very gracious and partnering with us on that,
but this particular site, we can't close the road completely
because there's no detour for the possible for the people
(11:13):
who live on this road. So the tunnels are really
the best possible conservation solution, and it's the reason that
our Salamander Brigades exist is to create, is to collect.
You know, we do want to reduce roadkill, one animal
at a time, that is one of our goals, but
a bigger picture goal is to collect data that can
be used to inform tunnel projects like this one. Because
(11:37):
we can't carry every frog across every road and we
don't really want to try. We want to kind of
collect information that can can inform projects just like this.
So you know, in an ideal world, we put ourselves
out of business and wouldn't need the Salamander Brigades anymore.
But there are amphibian crossings happening in so many places
that even when this tunnel is in operation, shod and
(12:00):
fully functional, we'll still have plenty of work for our
crossing brigades to do.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Sure, and look, if somebody's driving or they're walking and
they notice a salamander or a turtle or whatever frog
in the road trying to cross, should they stop and help,
should they let it do its thing? What do you
what do you suggest for people?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
There's a couple of things here, and maybe Sandy can
speak to turtles, but safety human safety is of course
of great importance here. So I do stop as often
as I can for frogs, salamanders and turtles, but I'll
only stop if it's safe for me to do so,
And so that's the very first thing, is to assess
is it safe for you to pull over on this road?
(12:37):
Is this is this a road where you can get out.
We train all of our Salamander Brigade volunteers to only
go out while they're wearing reflective vests and carrying a
bright light so that they're super visible to passing cars,
which you know, not everybody is going to be ready
for that kind of activity while they're just driving. Turtles
are a bit different because they're moving typically in the daytime,
(12:58):
so it's easier to see them, and it's easier for
people to see you. And so I do encourage people
if it's safe, to get out and move a turtle
across the road in the direction it was heading. We
always want to move these animals wherever they're already going,
because if we turn them around and put them where
we think they should go, they want to go somewhere else.
(13:20):
You know, they're just going to cross right back. So
I do encourage it, but only when it's safe to
do so.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I think it's great that you put that emphasis on
safety and then also in the direction that they're going.
So a lot of times turtles are moving between habitats
and females there will usually do a press release sometime
in June when they're moving to their nesting habitats. So
they maybe they're coming from a wetland and your temptation
(13:48):
might be just to bring them back there, but no,
let them. They want to go where they want to go,
and they know where they're going. So so like Bret said,
you know in the direction that they're headed is how
you would help them cross and doing so safely.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's good to know, all right. So, Sandy, how can
people find out more information about this project and how
you know fishing game is getting involved in this work.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
There's information on our website both on turtles and on
design guidance for the crossing, so if people are curious
about that, they can learn more there.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For folks who are interested in the amphibian crossings in particular,
we do have a really we haven't we haven't yet
added information about the Keen tunnels to our website, although
it's in the works, but we have a ton of
information at Harriscenter dot org slash Brigades, So even if
you aren't in Southwest New Hampshire but you're interested in
(14:41):
this whole thing, you can read through our volunteer materials
and kind of take it with you back to your community.
And we also have a list of crossing Brigade programs
all throughout the Northeast, so you can hopefully find one
closer to home for you, because our goal is of
course for people to drive as little as possible on
these nights, so we try to. We created that list
(15:03):
to kind of play matchmaker for interested volunteers and projects
that need volunteers. So if that's something that folks are
interested in, we've got everything from an FAQ to training
videos to our five day salamander forecast that we update
daily during salamander season to kind of predict the likelihood
(15:25):
of a migration. So that is a place. It's not
specifically focused on the tunnel project yet, but it's a
great information hub for anyone who's curious about the spring
amphibian migration.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, and the Harris Center tell us a little bit
really quickly about where you are and if people want
to come and find you, where do they need to go?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Sure in the Harris Center for Conservation Education. We're based
in the Minadnock region of southwest New Hampshire, so the
Hair Center itself is in Hancock, New Hampshire, but we
do land protection, environmental education and conservation research all throughout
southwest New Hampshire, so we don't only work in Hancock,
(16:03):
we work throughout the region and we have everything from
hiking trails to something like one hundred and fifty or
one hundred and seventy five events for the public every year,
birding outings, film showings, science projects and so you can
learn all about that at Harriscenter dot org. And then
if you want to take a hike or attend an event,
(16:24):
we'd love to have you join us.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Sandy from New Hampshire Fishing Game Brett from the Harris
Center really learned quite a bit today about amphibians and turtles.
So thank you so much for all the work you
do to help our littlest friends get to where they
have to go.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Great.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend.
Please join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ news Radio on
iHeartRadio
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each week right here we come together, we talk about
all the topics important to you and the place where
you live. To have you with us this week. I'm
Nicole Davis. Driving around on a damp spring night around here,
there's a pretty good chance you've seen some kind of
small animal on the move trying to cross the road,
like a frog or a turtle, or a salamander or
(00:28):
something like that. For those animals though, this is not
just spending time outside roaming around the neighborhood. This is
actually crucial stuff. This is tied to breeding, feeding and survival.
But our roads are getting in the way of their
longtime migration. A single crossing attempt can turn deadly fast
for those little critters. So in New Hampshire, new wildlife
crossings are soon going to be popping up to help
(00:48):
these little animals make these important journeys without risking their
lives to do it. Sandy Hoten is a wildlife diversity
biologist with a New Hampshire fishing game. Brett Amy Thielen
is the science director of the hair They're a Center
for conservation education. Thank you both for the time, and
you know, Brett, let's talk a bit more about these
migrations and why they're so important, why these animals have
(01:09):
to do this at this time of year.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, So this time of year we have these these
spring amphibian migrations are sometimes known as big nights, and
these are breeding migrations. So these spotted salamanders, wood frogs,
spring peepers, Jefferson salamanders, they are migrating from the woods
where they spend most of their lives and where they've
just spent the winter to vernal pools and other wetlands
(01:33):
to breed, so to court, to lay eggs, and then
after a few weeks they're also migrating back to the
woods to spend the rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, And it's kind of a dangerous crossing because a
lot of these vernal pools and woods are in rural
areas where you don't really have a lot of street lights. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, there are thankfully many protected lands where these
animals never have to cross the road at all, but
on our modern landscape, there are a lot of roads
that kind of bisect these habitats that the animals need
that run between the woods and the wetlands, and even
when the lights are on, some of these critters are
pretty small. Spring peepers are about the size of the
tip of my thumb, and so even if you're driving
(02:14):
slow and there are good street lights, it can be
tough to see them, or even if you see them,
when there are so many on the road at the
same time, it can be tough to avoid them. So
they're returning to the same breeding pools that they use
year after year. So there are patterns on the landscape.
There's places where these migrations occur year after year. So
(02:36):
if you see spotted salamanders on a particular road this April,
there's a pretty good chance you'll see them their next
April too, if conditions are right.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So people might ask, why is it so important that
we keep these little guys safe and we protect them
in their frogs and salamanders, of course, but why is
this so critical?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
There's kind of I think there's two pieces to that.
One is the role that amphibians play in our ecosystems.
So they're hugely important in the food web. So there
are food for foxes and turkeys and owls and turtles
and snakes, you name it. It probably eats amphibians, and
(03:15):
in turn, they're really important predators of invertebrates and insects,
so everything from earthworms to mosquito larvae. So if we
lose our amphibians, we lose a really important link in
the food web that keeps our forests healthy. And I
also always like to address the issue of roadkill because
most people don't tend to think of amphibians when they
think of roadkill, and you know, we tend to think
(03:39):
of larger animals that stay on the road longer, like
deer or squirrels or raccoons, and maybe that could hit
one at a time, But the amphibian roadkill issue is
much it's much bigger than that, and it tends to
be invisible to many of us. So on these migration nights,
there are thousands of amphibians moving all at the same time,
(04:03):
and so it doesn't take a lot of cars to
do a lot of damage. And even though most of
us don't see it because we are typically not out
on a forty five degree rainy night, and also because
these animals are so small, it's the research is showing
that it's a really significant conservation concern for both amphibians
and reptiles. So I always like to point that out
(04:24):
that it's not just one or two animals getting hit
once in a while. It's a pretty significant conservation concern
in the Northeast.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well, and there are efforts to try to help them
get around and help them cross safely. I know that
we've had a few reporters here go out on some
early spring nights. I think it was just a week
or two ago that we sent somebody out to go
in the rain and you know, make sure that everybody
got them across. Okay, tell us about how you and
volunteers are doing that up in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So I coordinate what we call the Salamander Crossing Brigade
program through the Harris Center. We work in southwest New Hampshire,
but there are similar programs all throughout the Northeast, and
we train volunteers in how to go out safely on
these big nights and safely move animals across the road.
The idea is to move them faster than they can
move themselves, and also to keep count so that we
(05:14):
can collect data that can be used for longer term
conservation solutions, which I think Sandy will talk a bit
about but the training is a big focus on safety,
how to keep yourself safe, how to safely handle the animals,
as well as where to go, how to identify all
the different species we might see out there. So there's
(05:36):
a lot of efforts underway. But I also like to
remind people that you don't have to go out on
a rainy night to help amphibians. That one of the
best things that you can do for amphibians on rainy
spring nights is simply not drive. So save your errands
for tomorrow, save your errands for the daytime when amphibians
won't be active on the roads, and just stay home.
And just doing that you could save many amphibian lives
(05:59):
without even having to go out and volunteer. We have
a dedicated group of this year. So far, already three
hundred volunteers have participated in our project and we're really
just getting started for the season. But we all can
play a part even if we don't want to go
out in the rain.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That is the best way to get active is to
not be active. It's my face, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Right, yeah, And you have my permission to sit around
on a rainy night and not.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Go anywhere, say less, I am all over it. So, Sandy,
this project we're talking about, this new project, the turtle tunnels,
so to speak, it all comes from a government grant.
So tell us about this grant and about this project overall,
and how much we're talking about and where the money
came from, that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
The new Hampshire Fish and Game Department are non game
and indiuger wildlife program in collaboration with our many partners,
but the state was the applicant for a nationally competitive
grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The grant
program is called America's Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, and it's relative
(07:00):
it's fairly competitive. So but we were able to apply
for multiple road barrier mitigation projects, including the one we're
working with Bread on that will help amphibians, but also
several for turtles as well, So it's your turtle tunnel comment.
And the total grant award is just over two point
(07:22):
six million dollars and will provide basically restoring habitat connectivity
as well as reducing them them mortality, so it's kind
of doing both things. It's reducing the risk of them
crossing the road through barriers or fencing depending on the
species and the site, and then also providing an underpass
(07:45):
for them to get under the road so it keeps
them connected and safe.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
How would these animals know how to use the crossings
as opposed to just you know, going twelve feet down
the road and going another way, But it seems to
be path of least resistance, right.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, fencing and guiding is a common trend
with any wildlife crossing. You do have some kind of
riparian species who are traveling along a river where you
might be able to you know, they're able to still
they're using many of our bridges and culverts currently, but
(08:19):
for amphibians and turtles, they really do need the guide
walls to help them to know where to go under
the road.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Sure, so tell us where these new crossings are going
in so.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
That amphibian crossing is in Keen, and then we have
one in new Market and one in Nottingham that are
focused on our at risk turtle species. The grant award
includes both planning and design as well as the implementation
of the restoration, so we'll be able to over the
next year or so work with each of the communities
(08:54):
to develop designs that for some of the crossings. There
are also they can address some flooding issues. A lot
of times with wildlife crossings where you can get a
win win win kind of scenario. We're happy to have
everyone be you know, get multiple check multiple boxes at once.
So we'll be designing over the next year or so
(09:17):
and doing all our permitting and compliance and paperwork, et cetera.
And then next year or the year after, depending on
how so's time frames go, and when we're able to
the implementation, will do construction to restore these sites. And
then we have a year from monitoring to see the
(09:38):
effectiveness and maybe if there's any need for adaptation we
can do that. So it goes through March of twenty
twenty nine. Things have been a little bit delayed already
with the grant award agency, so there may be an extension.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Let's talk really quickly bred about how crossings like this
help your work and the work you do. You're already
out there in the rain doing what you can to
get these amphibians across the road. When these crossings are
in place. What is that going to do for you?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, this is huge for us. We're really excited about
this project because for years we have been going out,
but we can't be out all night. We also aren't
out on every single possible migration night. We do our
best to predict when the migrations are going to happen,
but it's all weather dependent and the forecast sometimes changes
(10:32):
at the last minute, and so we can't be out
there all the time. And we also can't be out
there in the late summer and fall when the young
of the year are migrating away from the vernal pools
and back into the woods. That migration is not as concentrated.
It's harder to predict, and so we're there when we
can be, but we can't be there all the time.
(10:52):
And one of the first solutions we looked at for
this site is road closures, so predicting to our the
best of our ability when a big migration will happen
and closing the road to traffic. The city of Keene
has been very gracious and partnering with us on that,
but this particular site, we can't close the road completely
because there's no detour for the possible for the people
(11:13):
who live on this road. So the tunnels are really
the best possible conservation solution, and it's the reason that
our Salamander Brigades exist is to create, is to collect.
You know, we do want to reduce roadkill, one animal
at a time, that is one of our goals, but
a bigger picture goal is to collect data that can
be used to inform tunnel projects like this one. Because
(11:37):
we can't carry every frog across every road and we
don't really want to try. We want to kind of
collect information that can can inform projects just like this.
So you know, in an ideal world, we put ourselves
out of business and wouldn't need the Salamander Brigades anymore.
But there are amphibian crossings happening in so many places
that even when this tunnel is in operation, shod and
(12:00):
fully functional, we'll still have plenty of work for our
crossing brigades to do.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Sure, and look, if somebody's driving or they're walking and
they notice a salamander or a turtle or whatever frog
in the road trying to cross, should they stop and help,
should they let it do its thing? What do you
what do you suggest for people?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
There's a couple of things here, and maybe Sandy can
speak to turtles, but safety human safety is of course
of great importance here. So I do stop as often
as I can for frogs, salamanders and turtles, but I'll
only stop if it's safe for me to do so,
And so that's the very first thing, is to assess
is it safe for you to pull over on this road?
(12:37):
Is this is this a road where you can get out.
We train all of our Salamander Brigade volunteers to only
go out while they're wearing reflective vests and carrying a
bright light so that they're super visible to passing cars,
which you know, not everybody is going to be ready
for that kind of activity while they're just driving. Turtles
are a bit different because they're moving typically in the daytime,
(12:58):
so it's easier to see them, and it's easier for
people to see you. And so I do encourage people
if it's safe, to get out and move a turtle
across the road in the direction it was heading. We
always want to move these animals wherever they're already going,
because if we turn them around and put them where
we think they should go, they want to go somewhere else.
(13:20):
You know, they're just going to cross right back. So
I do encourage it, but only when it's safe to
do so.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
I think it's great that you put that emphasis on
safety and then also in the direction that they're going.
So a lot of times turtles are moving between habitats
and females there will usually do a press release sometime
in June when they're moving to their nesting habitats. So
they maybe they're coming from a wetland and your temptation
(13:48):
might be just to bring them back there, but no,
let them. They want to go where they want to go,
and they know where they're going. So so like Bret said,
you know in the direction that they're headed is how
you would help them cross and doing so safely.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's good to know, all right. So, Sandy, how can
people find out more information about this project and how
you know fishing game is getting involved in this work.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
There's information on our website both on turtles and on
design guidance for the crossing, so if people are curious
about that, they can learn more there.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For folks who are interested in the amphibian crossings in particular,
we do have a really we haven't we haven't yet
added information about the Keen tunnels to our website, although
it's in the works, but we have a ton of
information at Harriscenter dot org slash Brigades, So even if
you aren't in Southwest New Hampshire but you're interested in
(14:41):
this whole thing, you can read through our volunteer materials
and kind of take it with you back to your community.
And we also have a list of crossing Brigade programs
all throughout the Northeast, so you can hopefully find one
closer to home for you, because our goal is of
course for people to drive as little as possible on
these nights, so we try to. We created that list
(15:03):
to kind of play matchmaker for interested volunteers and projects
that need volunteers. So if that's something that folks are
interested in, we've got everything from an FAQ to training
videos to our five day salamander forecast that we update
daily during salamander season to kind of predict the likelihood
(15:25):
of a migration. So that is a place. It's not
specifically focused on the tunnel project yet, but it's a
great information hub for anyone who's curious about the spring
amphibian migration.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah, and the Harris Center tell us a little bit
really quickly about where you are and if people want
to come and find you, where do they need to go?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Sure in the Harris Center for Conservation Education. We're based
in the Minadnock region of southwest New Hampshire, so the
Hair Center itself is in Hancock, New Hampshire, but we
do land protection, environmental education and conservation research all throughout
southwest New Hampshire, so we don't only work in Hancock,
(16:03):
we work throughout the region and we have everything from
hiking trails to something like one hundred and fifty or
one hundred and seventy five events for the public every year,
birding outings, film showings, science projects and so you can
learn all about that at Harriscenter dot org. And then
if you want to take a hike or attend an event,
(16:24):
we'd love to have you join us.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Sandy from New Hampshire Fishing Game Brett from the Harris
Center really learned quite a bit today about amphibians and turtles.
So thank you so much for all the work you
do to help our littlest friends get to where they
have to go.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Great.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend.
Please join us again next week for another edition of
the show. I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ news Radio on
iHeartRadio
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