When Lori Lilley set out to rescue turtles from the Crystal Lake reconstruction site in March, she didn’t expect to find many.
“I had made the comment, ‘If I just save one, I’ll be happy,’” she said.
Her first day, Lilley of Lower Alsace Township and a crew from Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center, Chalfont, Bucks County, pulled three specimens from the mud of the drained lake.
Lilley and her husband, Christopher, have kept at it since then. By the end of May, they reached 33 and plan to keep going.
“Never in a million years did I think we’d save so many,” she said. “I’m so thrilled.”
The manmade lake is part of the Carsonia Park property, a former amusement park in Exeter and Lower Alsace townships. The 27-acre parcel is owned by the Mount Penn Borough Municipal Authority.
Lilley received permission from the authority for her work but stressed that the property is off limits to the public for safety reasons during construction.
The authority harnesses water from beneath the site to supply about 30,000 households in Mount Penn, St. Lawrence, Lower Alsace and part of Exeter. It drained the heavily polluted lake as part of a nearly $700,000 state and federal grant-funded project aimed at source-water protection, storm water management and water and wetland habitat restoration.
Although the plan called for measures to preserve the aquatic life disrupted by the construction, about 100 fish and 30 or more turtles were lost.
Wildlife rehabilitators rescue stranded turtles at Berks lake
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“I’m on a mission to find more turtles alive than dead,” Lilley said. “That will make me feel so much better.”
The rescued turtles were transported to Aark for rehabilitation.
Amanda Leyden, Aark’s clinic director and licensed wildlife rehabilitator, said those in the clinic’s care are doing well. Some had ingested fishing line and were evaluated by the clinic’s veterinarian for possible surgery.
Aark’s plan is to release the turtles when the lake project is completed. That will likely be late spring or summer 2026.
State laws for the release of turtles in the care of centers such as Aark differ from those for turtles not undergoing rehabilitation, Leyden noted.
Most of the rescued reptiles are common musk turtles. Also known as eastern musk turtles, they are native to southeastern Canada and much of the eastern U.S.
Lilley also found several common snapping turtles and a few painted turtles. Both native species are widespread throughout eastern North America.
She rescued two red-eared sliders and one yellow-belly, species that are not native to Pennsylvania. Introduced through pet abandonment, they are considered an invasive species here and cannot be released in the state.
Leyden said they will be get new homes as pets.
Lilley was pleased to learn recently that one of the Crystal Lake musk turtles at Aark has laid eggs.
“I am so excited,” she said. “We’ll have babies to put back in the lake.”
The self-described wildlife lover’s rescue efforts extend beyond turtles.
She recently saved two baby squirrels, one huddling beneath a vehicle on her street and another in her driveway. Possibly knocked from their nest by heavy rain, they were too young to survive on their own and were also taken to Aark.
Recent rains also have refilled the lake, Lilley noted, giving the turtles the water they need to stay alive. But the higher water level makes it more difficult for her to find and reach them.
She also is concerned that the denuded lakebed cannot provide enough food for the remaining turtles.
Their omnivorous diet includes aquatic plants and insects, fish, snails and crayfish. Snapping turtles also eat small birds, mammals and amphibians.
“Nothing that they eat is left,” Lilley said. “It’s all gone.”
Some have wondered why she cares, Lilley said.
“People seem to think, ‘Oh, it’s just one turtle, one squirrel, one frog,’” Lilley said. “No, it’s not. It’s one here, one there. And that adds up to way too many. These creatures are just so innocent. They’re just doing what they know how to do to survive.”
Turtle species threatened
Leyden confirmed that one of the Crystal Lake turtles in Aark’s care has laid eggs and several other females are pregnant.
Successfully hatching these eggs and raising the young is a priority, she said, explaining that turtles are among the most threatened groups of animals, with several species in serious decline.
It can take up to 15 to 20 years for some long-lived species, such as snappers, to mature in the wild, she said, and their early survival odds are incredibly slim.
“To give an idea, research shows only about 5% of snapping turtle nests hatch, and of those hatchlings just 1% will survive to adulthood,” Leyden said. “It’s likely very similar odds for other species, and it is why every adult turtle matters, and why every egg is a lifeline to the future.”
Last year, Aark successfully hatched more than 100 snapping turtle eggs. Leyden said this year is shaping up to be an even bigger one, with female snappers and other species in Aark’s care already beginning to lay.
Due to the increased volume, Aark’s incubators are maxed out, Leyden said, and the organization needs to upgrade to meet the growing need.
For more information or to donate to Aark, visit aark.org/.
Source: Berkshire mont
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