Science-Guided Stewardship: Eastern Box Turtle Radio Telemetry Pilot Project

By Lauren McDonald, Communications & Development Fellow

At Sycamore’s Laura Hare Nature Preserve at Downey Hill, an eastern box turtle, affectionately nicknamed Walden, rests in a debris pile. He is one of several turtles being tracked as a part of Sycamore’s pilot project to monitor eastern box turtles using radio telemetry. Land Stewardship Interns Wyatt Downey and Lindsey Levine trek through the foliage each week, telemetry devices clicking softly, as they search for Walden and other turtles across the preserve. The team hopes to better understand how eastern box turtles move throughout the preserve and how Sycamore’s land management practices affect their habitat.

Land Stewardship Assistants Lindsey Levine and Wyatt Downey monitoring eastern box turtles at the Laura Hare Nature Preserve at Downey Hill. Chris Fox

Eastern box turtles are one of the most recognizable species in southern Indiana. They are slow-moving reptiles with shells covered in intricate yellow patterns, often seen crossing roads after a rainfall. Despite their beloved familiarity, they are listed as a species of special concern in Indiana. As development fragments their habitats and road strikes continue to drive up mortality rates, eastern box turtles require our diligent protection. Because they can live for up to sixty years and rarely stray far from their homes, their presence (or lack thereof) can reveal a lot about the health of the forests around them over time, under active stewardship or natural succession. That’s why Sycamore has begun a pilot study to better understand their movements and habitat use throughout the preserve.

Wielding long telemetry receivers, Wyatt and Lindsey follow faint beeps beneath the shade of the forest canopy to locate their turtles. The work requires patience, and, according to Wyatt Downey, about “80% luck.” Four turtles—Walden, Dolly, Bonnie, and Clyde—have been tagged so far with small radio transmitters that allow our interns to locate them in the field. By naming the turtles, our team has an easier time discussing and tracking each turtle’s movement. Each transmitter is lightweight and harmless, painted to match the turtles’ shells to avoid unwanted or altered natural behaviors. Since eastern box turtles are a species of special concern, Sycamore’s work is done with approval from the Indiana DNR. If you ever see a turtle in the wild, especially one with a tag, please don’t touch or move it unless it is in immediate danger.

Each endangered eastern box turtle has a unique shell pattern, making it possible to identify and monitor individuals. Wyatt Downey

When turtles are first found, the team attaches a tag to the turtle’s shell and then records shell measurements, sex (when possible), GPS coordinates, and habitat characteristics such as canopy cover and surrounding vegetation. The process when the turtles are relocated via telemetry is much shorter: just a quick photo of the turtle where it was found and habitat details are recorded. To minimize handling time and stress, the team lays out all tools beforehand and finishes recording details after the turtle has been safely returned to its spot.

Tiny radio transmitters are attached to their shells and painted brown to camouflage them. Wyatt Downey

Downey Hill’s forests, like many across Indiana, have changed dramatically over the past century. Understanding how our turtles are behaving can guide how we use many of our stewardship tools, such as native planting, invasive species removal, selective thinning, and prescribed burns. Fire, when used carefully and guided by research, can help restore balance, but understanding its effects is essential. Downey Hill has already undergone one prescribed burn under Sycamore’s care with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy, giving Sycamore an opportunity to study how turtles respond to fire over time, and to identify ways to make future burns even safer. Through this research, Sycamore is learning how to use prescribed fire to restore the forest while minimizing the risk to its wildlife.

By tracking turtle movement before, during, and after a burn, the team hopes to learn more about how the timing, frequency, and the intensity of fire influence turtle behavior. This data could show whether turtles retreat and reliably find shelter when fires ignite or if we must implement more protective measures when planning a prescribed fire. If certain patterns emerge, such as turtles consistently seeking refuge in specific habitat features like debris piles or shaded slopes, Sycamore’s land stewards can adapt future burns to protect those areas. Fire breaks could be placed around preferred shelters, and burns can be scheduled during cooler months when turtles are brumating underground. We follow precautions like these to protect wildlife with every prescribed burn we conduct. The information we learn through this project will help us make those methods even more effective. Wyatt explains, “When it comes to mortality, we want to be sure that the fires are not causing the turtles any harm.”

The project reflects Sycamore’s commitment to using scientific research to guide management on our preserves. Lessons learned at Downey Hill could eventually shape how prescribed fire as well as native plantings, forest stand improvement projects, and invasive species removal are implemented at other preserves, promoting forest restoration practices that also safeguard wildlife. Each turtle tagged and relocated becomes a part of the story of how to restore Indiana’s natural heritage responsibly.

This pilot season is just the start of this project. As more data is collected in the coming years, Sycamore hopes to expand this project by adding more turtles to the study and refining our tracking methods. Looking ahead, the team plans to extend tracking beyond the initial two-year window, allowing them to follow each turtle’s movements for longer and build a deeper understanding of habitat use. This project will be passed down through years of our land stewardship program. The goal is to create a long-term database that will inform land management strategies aimed at providing quality habitat for wildlife, including future turtle populations, on Sycamore’s preserves.

For now, Wyatt and Lindsey continue their work in the field, following faint beeps under debris piles and logging data one turtle at a time. Their work is a testament to how careful science can guide thoughtful stewardship and how both are essential to protecting Indiana’s wild places.

Map of eastern box turtle movement at the Laura Hare Nature Preserve at Downey Hill by Wyatt Downey

This article was published in the Fall 2025 issue of The Twig, “The Citizen Science Issue.” Read more articles at sycamorelandtrust.org/twig.