A wellness check for Tilden’s Western pond turtles
Former UC Berkeley postdoctoral scholar Max Lambert is part of a team of wildlife experts who spent much of the pandemic checking in on the health of the Bay Area’s Western pond turtles, including a population living right next door in Tilden Regional Park. Despite being California’s only native freshwater turtle, the Western pond turtle is struggling to survive the combined effects of climate change, habitat destruction and urban development — not to mention competition with the larger, more aggressive red-eared slider turtle, an invasive species.