Using information from iNaturalist, our eDNA project, and many hikes in the Carp Hills, we put together the 12 days of Christmas: the Carp Hills give to you . . . a diversity of life in its many forms.

Each day from December 25 to January 5 we highlighted a plant, animal, fungi, or bacteria that makes the Carp Hills home. We featured the unusual, the overlooked, and the unappreciated.

If you missed our social media posts, you can read all 12 days on our web site.

Days 1 through 6 - https://carphills.com/?p=3886
Days 7 through 12 - https://carphills.com/?p=3925

1. Star-Tipped Reindeer Lichen.

2. Wood Thrush and Hermit Thrush.
3. Swamp Milkweed.
4. Moths.
5. Slippery Elm and Rock Elm.
6. Smooth Greensnake.
7. Sedges.
8. Snowshoe Hare.
9. Salamanders.
10. Decomposers.
11. Bobcat and Lynx.
12. Ruffed Grouse.

We have posted the results of our 2023 turtle conservation project. 74 Blanding's turtles and 284 Snapping turtle hatchlings saved.

Read the post at: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/carp-hills-area-turtle-monitoring-project

In 2022 Friends of the Carp Hills ran a turtle conservation program in and near the Carp Hills with support from the Canadian Wildlife Federation. We had two goals:

1. improve our understanding of turtle nest behaviour in the Carp Hills, and
2. protect nests from predation, particularly those of Blanding’s and Snapping turtles.

Results: we learned a lot! And many eggs became hatchlings, released into ponds and wetlands near their nest sites.

Our webinar (7 November 2022) provides an overview of the conservation project, the results, and what we recommend for the future, which includes more community involvement. You can watch the webinar on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/UEXoyHRHUUE

On 7 August, the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) released twelve Blanding’s turtles into a Carp Hills pond.

Friends of the Carp Hills worked with CWF to conduct a turtle nest monitoring program in June to support turtle population sustainability. CWF collected twelve eggs from a roadside Blanding’s turtle nest flagged on the evening of 8 June by Rachel, one of our turtle monitors. CWF incubated the eggs, which started to hatch on 5 August. We released the hatchlings in a pond near the location where the eggs were laid.

For more information, photos, and a video see: https://carphills.com/?p=3449

One 3 June, Friends of the Carp Hills kicked off one month of turtle nesting monitoring with training by CWF biologist Dave Seburn. Blanding's turtle eggs and Snapping turtle eggs will be collected, incubated, and released if laid on the roadside or where a nest protector cannot provide adequate protection.
Friends of the Carp Hills have four part-time monitors patrolling for turtles whose eggs need help.

JL Mason and ecologist Cathy Keddy conducted plant monitoring on the Carp Barrens Trail on 17 July 2021.
Under the Carp Barrens Monitoring Plan, Friends of the Carp Hills record the status of Regionally Significant plants located on and near the trail, which could be disturbed by trail use. Non-native species are also recorded. A checklist is filled-in and actions recommended to protect species and to remove non-native ones.
The tag "Plant Monitoring" is used to identify the plants observed during the annual monitoring exercise.

Highlights of this monitoring session:

• increasing growth of non-native species all along the trail brought in on bike tires and shoes;
• new orchid - Green Adder's-Mouth, found beside the trail; and
• there seems to be a decline in Pink Lady's Slipper orchid at locations near the trailhead.

Yesterday plant ecologists Cathy Keddy and Eleanor Thomson, and field naturalists Greg Lutick and Jakob Mueller visited a 4.5 acre fen southwest of the Crazy Horse Trail to help document the plant community. At least four Regionally Significant plants were confirmed, one - Eriophorum tenellum - is Regionally Rare. Thank you to the team for helping to document the biodiversity of the Carp Hills.

Conservation biologist and author Robert Alvo provided us with a list of frogs he heard on the Crazy Horse. the list is based on hearing their vocalizations.

Spring Peeper
Wood Frog -- egg masses found too.
Northern Leopard Frog
Gray Treefrog
Mink Frog
Green Frog
American Bullfrog

These records are from 2020, April to June.

Ecologist Holly Bickerton has completed Phase 2 of the Carp Barrens Trail Study. A summary of her findings is provided below.

• The single largest impact of the trail network is the incursion of human presence into a previously inaccessible and regionally significant, high quality natural area. Cyclists, hikers, dog walkers and naturalists have all been observed using these trails.
• A high number of predated turtle nests along the trail suggest that the loose soil of the trail is functioning as a habitat sink, meaning female turtles may be drawn to nest in these unsafe areas.
• Five species (one considered regionally significant) of herptiles were found under rocks on or near a trail. Snakes or their sheltering rocks may be run over by bikes. The rocks on which they depend for shelter and hibernation have been displaced throughout the area for trail or cairn construction.
• Direct impacts (trampling, compaction, erosion) were observed to populations of nine regionally significant terrestrial plant species, and non-native plants continue to be observed in higher concentration along the trail network.
• Observation of fishers and Black Bear south of Thomas Dolan Parkway demonstrate that the area has a high ecological integrity for wide-ranging mammals, which may be affected by the increased presence of humans and dogs.

Mycologist George P. White led a guided hike on the Crazy Horse Trail, resulting in the discovery and identification of many fungi.