USFWS reopens public comment period on western pond turtle protections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reopened the public comment period on the agency’s proposal to list the northwestern (Actinemys marmorata) and southwestern pond turtles (Emys marmorata pallida) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The public comment period will close May 5, 2024. 

The northwestern pond turtle is found in Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and northern and central California, while the southwestern pond turtle resides in Monetary County, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego counties into northern Baja California, Mexico.

The western pond turtle is native to California and much of the West Coast of the United States. Listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, the western pond turtle is an omnivore, subsisting on insects, crayfish and other aquatic invertebrates as well as plant matter. They are also known to eat fish, tadpoles and dead animal matter.

These reptiles are “turtles as threatened species”.