FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Bern Tryon speaker Roan Mnt. Naturalist Rally

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bern Tryon, Director of Animal Collections/Herpetology at the Knoxville 
Zoological Gardens,  will be the speaker for the 48th Annujal Roan Mountain 
Spring Naturalist Rally to be held May 5-6-7, 2006.

The rally will be held at the Roan Mountain State Park Conference Center.  It 
is sponsored by The Friends of Roan Mountain.

Tryon first entered the zoo profession in 1971 and worked in the herp 
departments at zoos in Atlanta, Fort Worth, and Houston prior to coming to 
Knoxville in 1984. His primary interests are natural history and conservation 
of chelonians and snakes. Since 1986, he has been the primary researcher in a 
study of bog turtles in Tennessee. In addition to these field studies, the zoo 
developed a captive-breeding program for Bog Turtles which has been successful 
since 1988.
 
     Bern served on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Study of 
Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) and for 12 years was Section Editor for 
Herpetological Husbandry for Herpetological Review, a quarterly publication of 
SSAR. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Chelonian Conservation and 
Biology, a professional journal published by the Chelonian Research Foundation.

    He also is on the Board of Directors for the Tortoise Reserve, Inc. a 
non-profit corporation dedicated to the international conservation of tortoises 
and freshwater turtles. The reserve helps with the recovery of stressed and 
endangered populations through enhanced public awareness, the development of 
regional conservation strategies, support of successful existing programs, and 
conservation-oriented research. Of primary interest are local programs which 
address the interrelated roles of chelonians within specific biotic communities 
and involvement of the private sector in conservation.

is now Curator of Living Collections.Let's go birding.....

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
This important initiative has combinedstatewide efforts for the 
species,maintains a data base for bog turtles inthe south, and has been 
instrumental inassisting the conservation efforts ofPhoto by R. G. Tuck, Jr.
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      Page 2 
ENDANGERED SPECIES BULLETIN MAY/JUNE 1999 VOLUME XXIV NO. 313private landowners 
through easements,habitat maintenance, and education.As part of Project Bog 
Turtle, Hermanand his colleagues continue to play alarge role in identifying 
new turtle sitesthroughout the species' southern range.In the early 1990's, 
Herman and Ijoined forces with George Amato andJohn Behler of the Wildlife 
Conserva-tion Society/Bronx Zoo in a study ofturtle genetics. In a 2-year 
period, wewere able to collect blood samples from64 bog turtles representing 
all 5 States inthe southern range as well as samplesfrom Maryland and Delaware. 
Anexamination of mitochondrial DNAshowed no differentiation amongpopulations, 
but additional analysis willsoon be underway.My own program had its start 
whenHerman, along with Jim Warner (a bogturtle expert from Connecticut), 
discov-ered the first bog turtle in Tennessee inMay 1986. We quickly identified 
theonly two turtle sites in Tennesseeknown to date. The Tennessee projecthas 
not only encompassed 14 seasonsof field work but a captive breedingelement as 
well. In late 1986, a large,naturalistic outdoor bog exhibit wasconstructed at 
the Knoxville Zoo,providing an attractive facility forenvironmental education 
and for raisingbog turtles. (The American Zoo andAquarium Association awarded 
theKnoxville Zoo its Significant Achieve-ment Award for this exhibit in 
1989.)The Knoxville Zoo's captive breedingprogram has produced 103 bog 
turtlessince 1988. Working with the TennesseeWildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), 
thezoo developed a head-start/releaseprogram. Since 1991, 84 
captive-bredturtles have been released into a largesite in a neighboring 
county.In any wildlife endeavor, the valueof partnerships cannot be 
underesti-mated. Here in Tennessee, the Knox-ville Zoo, TWRA, The Nature 
Conser-vancy of Tennessee (TNC), and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service (with 
supportand funding from Asheville, NorthCarolina, Field Office through 
thePartners for Fish and Wildlife Program)have joined forces to establish the 
bogturtle as a flagship species for a rapidlydisappearing wetland ecosystem. 
Onlythree percent of the State's naturallyoccurring wetlands are found in 
easternTennessee and atiny fraction of thisincludes bog turtlehabitat. Through 
thecombined efforts ofthese organizations,especially TNC, a65-acre 
(26-hectare)habitat restorationproject now under-way in rural Ten-nessee may 
help toprovide a bright fu-ture for bog turtlesin this State.Bern Tryon is 
Curator of the Depart-ment of Herpetology at the Knoxville Zoo.REFERENCESAmato, 
G., J. L. Behler, B. W. Tryon, and D. W.Herman. 1997. Molecular variation in 
the bogturtle, Clemmys muhlenbergii. In: Proceedings,Conservation, Restoration, 
and Management ofTortoises and Turtles-An International Confer-ence. Pp. 
259-262. NY Turtle and TortoiseSociety.Herman, D. W., and B. W. Tryon. 1997. 
Land Use,Development, and Natural Succession and TheirEffects on Bog Turtle 
Habitat in the Southeast-ern United States. In: Proceedings, Conserva-tion, 
Restoration, and Management of Tortoisesand Turtles-An International 
Conference. Pp.364-371. NY Turtle and Tortoise Society.Tryon, B. W. 1990. Bog 
Turtles (Clemmysmuhlenbergii) in the South - A Question ofSurvival. Bull. 
Chicago Herp. Soc. 25 (4): 57-66.Tryon, B. W., and D. W. Herman. 1990. 
Status,Conservation, and Management of the BogTurtle, Clemmys muhlenbergii, in 
the South-eastern United States. In: Proceedings, FirstInternational Symposium 
on Turtles and Tor-toises: Conservation and Captive Husbandry.Pp. 36-52. 
Chapman University and the Califor-nia Turtle and Tortoise Club.Photo by Bern 
W. Tryon