A Season of Salamanders, Snakes, and Turtles at Eagleville Barrens: Herpetology Inventory
This spring, Mount Grace completed a herpetological inventory at Eagleville Barrens Conservation Area in Orange, Massachusetts. Organized and led by TerraCorps member Delana Gonzales, the project aimed to document the amphibian and reptile species utilizing the property and establish a baseline for future monitoring. Amphibians and reptiles are important indicators of ecosystem health, and understanding what species are present can provide valuable insight into the condition and biodiversity of a landscape.
Over the course of the spring and early summer, surveys were conducted across a variety of habitats including vernal pools, wetlands, upland forests, and transitional barrens. Delana and volunteers searched beneath logs and natural cover, installed artificial coverboards that provide shelter for secretive species, sampled vernal pools with dip nets to document amphibian breeding stages, conducted visual encounter surveys, and set aquatic turtle traps in suitable wetlands. The inventory documented 15 species total, 11 amphibian and 4 reptile species utilizing the property.
Some of the species encountered included spotted salamanders, four-toed salamanders, eastern newts, wood frogs, painted turtles, ribbon snakes, and garter snakes. Documenting these species helps build a clearer picture of the wildlife utilizing Eagleville Barrens and provides a foundation for future monitoring.
The project also provided hands-on field experience for two undergraduate practicum students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Natalia Kepczynski and Will Spellman, who assisted with surveys and data collection throughout the season. Their contributions helped expand the scope of the inventory while providing valuable field experience in conservation.
Beyond documenting species presence, this inventory provides a foundation for future management planning at Eagleville Barrens and creates a standardized survey protocol that can be adapted for other Mount Grace conservation areas. As surveys continue over time, the information collected will help inform habitat management and conservation priorities across the property.
The work isn't over yet. This month, Delana will present the results of the inventory as a scientific poster at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans, where researchers and conservation professionals from across the country gather to share their work and advance the conservation of amphibians and reptiles.