Chicken turtles (deirochelys reticularia) are semi aquatic members of the emydidae family that inhabit shallow ephemeral wetlands and adjacent terrestrial habitats in the southeastern united states

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) awarded a $230,775 Formula Grant under the State Wildlife Grants (CFDA 15.634) program to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The grant aims to fund research to determine the population status and reproductive activity of the Western Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia miaria), a semi-aquatic turtle species found in the southeastern U.S. that is perceived as rare. Over the 2-year award period from March 2025 to February 2027, the grant will support TPWD's efforts to identify wetlands with recent turtle observations and use camera trapping and/or hoop net trapping to assess the species' reproduction and distribution in Texas. These data will help inform whether federal listing or state protection is warranted and guide regional conservation planning.

Although little is known about the western chicken turtle (WCT deirochelys reticularia miaria) IT is perceived as rare and uncertainty regarding its biology distribution and abundance prompted the US fish and wildlife service (USFWS) to issue a 90 day finding that states listing may be warranted (USFWS 2011). Recent research in texas suggests that the species can be difficult to detect and potentially more common than previously thought but information on population structure and dynamics is still lacking. Notably recent WCT working group meetings suggest that information about population redundancy is lacking. Although recent distributional records exist in 17 texas counties only 5 of those are confirmed to have reproductive populations. Here we propose research to fill that data GAP by identifying wetlands with or near recent observations and use camera trapping and or d fyke net trapping to determine if reproduction is occurring. These data will help determine if federal listing or state protection is warranted and guide regional conservation planning along with the state wildlife action plan for texas.