Zoo New England's Field Conservation team has documented a historic first. As part of the effort to recover the population of the globally endangered Blanding's turtle in Massachusetts, a turtle raised at Stone Zoo 15 years ago has successfully reproduced in the wild, marking the first confirmed second-generation breeding success since the program began in 2007.

This spectacular story starts back in 2010 when ZNE staff were monitoring a female Blanding’s turtle, first found by then Senior Keeper John Berkholtz, in Concord, Mass. The turtle traveled over 1.2 miles in search of a place to lay her eggs, eventually nesting in a mulched flower bed at an office park. Her nest was protected, and it successfully produced 11 healthy hatchlings—10 males and one female.

That female, marked Turtle #144, was raised at Stone Zoo along with her nest mates by the animal care staff until the following spring when she was bigger and stronger, and thus less vulnerable to predation – a process called “headstarting.” After being returned to the wild, she remained unseen for the next 12 years, until ZNE staff happened to catch her again during a routine survey. She had grown to adult size, which in wild Blanding’s turtles can take 15-20 years. 

ZNE staff tagged her with a radio transmitter to monitor her movements and see if she might be ready to lay eggs of her own – as she was just reaching the age of first reproduction.

Finally, on the evening of June 25, 2025, ZNE Senior Field Conservationist Jimmy Welch found turtle #144 poking around in a wildflower meadow that has been specifically protected as a Blanding’s turtle nesting habitat. Welch kept watch as she dug a nest from 9 p.m. through 2 a.m., and eventually laid eight eggs. 

“Every year, we protect nests and release headstarted turtles to help restore these threatened turtle populations. But the goal is to have the population become self-sustaining, and that can only happen when the next generation start laying eggs of their own,” explains Welch. “This is a massive milestone for our Blanding’s turtle conservation program, and our hope is we continue to see future generations of Blanding’s turtles continue to thrive and reproduce to further bolster the local population.”

This achievement is largely due to the tireless dedication and effort of ZNE’s Field Conservation team and volunteers, who spend countless hours tracking and monitoring adult females, protecting nests, and raising and releasing hatchlings to restore populations of five threatened turtle species in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This local turtle conservation work takes patience and perseverance as turtles are slow to grow and mature, and lasting conservation gains take time. Long-term success is created through consistent and devoted work by ZNE’s Field Conservation team and the community of students, volunteers, zookeepers, scientists and more. 

In the early years of ZNE’s turtle conservation work, many turtles, like #144, were raised at the Zoo. Now, the majority of the turtles are headstarted in local schools through the HATCH (Hatchling and Turtle Conservation through Headstarting) program. Currently, over 2,000 students from 30 Massachusetts K-12 schools raise over 100 hatchling turtles in their classrooms each year and come out to the conservation sites each spring to release the turtles back to the wild. 

To date, ZNE has headstarted and released over 1,400 Blanding’s turtles across the state, and turtles that get a headstart have a 40 times greater chance of surviving to adulthood. This award-winning program not only helps us raise and protect more turtles each year, but gives all these students the chance to participate in a real-world, hands-on conservation project in their own communities. By helping protect native biodiversity and restoring healthy wetlands, students learn they can be agents of positive change and have a lasting impact on local wildlife.

ZNE has long been committed to the preservation and protection of rare and threatened species in Massachusetts. In addition to Blanding’s turtles, the Field Conservation team also actively works to preserve multiple turtle species, salamanders, frogs, fish, and even rare wildflowers and their insect pollinators. ZNE’s Field Conservation team continues to monitor these populations and research ways to improve the methods of work. They also depend on the passion, persistence, and partnership of zoo guests, members, and volunteers to help carry out this work. If #144’s eggs hatch successfully this fall, they will become part of the next generation of classroom-raised hatchlings, completing a full cycle from wild nest to classroom to wild reproduction. The HATCH students who raise this new crop of turtles will hopefully become the next generation of conservation leaders and will carry on this work of preserving and protecting these living treasures.