Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Northwestern pond turtles are a state-endangered species in Washington and the US Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed the species for federal listing. In Washington, the species' decline has been sharp, but there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the relative importance of the factors that are putatively driving this decline. Having a better understanding of the threats and an approach for rigorously evaluating management actions will help to inform conservation of the species. We are working with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to undertake a Structured Decision Making process. Through this process, we will develop a framework to inform conservation of the species in Washington and to identify the most important uncertainties that are restricting management. These uncertainties will be the focus of a graduate research project. The framework we develop, and the new research that will be designed to fill knowledge gaps in that framework, will help state and federal agencies to plan conservation for this species.