Staffer teams up with crews to protect threatened species during city project

It may sound strange, but in mid-May, Laura Guderyahn was so thrilled to be reunited with Grandma Powell that she gave the old gal a big fat kiss.

What’s so strange about that?

Grandma Powell is a turtle — a rare Western painted turtle that Guderyahn identified five years ago, leading to a larger discovery of the imperiled species living smack dab in the middle of Gresham.

Now Guderyahn is working with construction crews to make sure that the creation of a new sewer line through the turtles’ habitat doesn’t disturb their breeding grounds.

At issue is the need to add sewer capacity to meet demand from the growing area while protecting habitat that’s home not only to the Western painted turtle but also the rare Northern red-legged frog.

The city began protecting the breeding grounds for these species even before it knew the threatened animals lived there. For the past 20 years, it’s worked to bring back the 60-acre wetland that both animals call home. City crews and citizen volunteers have planted trees while restoring the previously drained headwaters of Fairview Creek.

And it’s in this area brimming with wildlife where the city is laying 2,300 feet of sewer pipe. The pipeline is going in just west of a segment of the Gresham-Fairview Trail running between Northwest Division Street and West Powell Boulevard.

Work on the $740,000 project began in mid-May. It will replace an older smaller pipe and will connect to the Linneman Pump Station south of Powell. Construction is expected to continue through the middle of August.

Here’s the wrinkle.

The new pipe is being laid along an old railroad that, until the rare turtle was discovered, was slated to be paved as the southernmost link of the Gresham-Fairview Trail.

The Gresham–Fairview Trail one day will connect Portland’s 40-Mile Loop Trail at Marine Drive to the Springwater Trail in Gresham. As of this spring, the Gresham-Fairview Trail runs for a little more than 3 miles between the Springwater Trail and Northeast Halsey Street in Gresham. Plans are under way to finish the remaining 2 miles north to Marine Drive in Portland.

But plans to pave over the railroad bed between Division and Powell changed in 2007, when Guderyahn made a remarkable discovery.

Back then, Guderyahn was working for Gresham City Hall as an AmeriCorps volunteer chronicling Gresham’s amphibian species when a citizen reported what sounded like the punch line of joke: A turtle trying to cross Powell Boulevard.

The turtle, later named Grandma Powell, had come from the headwaters of a wetland on the north side of Powell and was looking for nesting habitat.

Guderyahn, who has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in conservation, identified the turtle as a rare Western painted turtle. Then she tracked it to the wetlands near Grant Butte just west of the old railroad bed.

And there, she discovered what is considered the only known population of such turtles in an urban area east of the Willamette River.

Rare species “critical”

The Western painted turtle is one of two turtle species native to Oregon that can be found in Gresham, and is listed as critical by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The turtles were nesting and laying eggs in the gravel underpinnings of that old railroad bed. And they’d bask in the sun right on top of the old railroad bed to get the six to eight hours of sunlight needed every day for optimum health, food metabolization and egg incubation. Without those rays, the turtles also are more susceptible to disease, and city planners realized that a paved trail on that same railroad bed would send the turtles scrambling for the wetland every time a bike, runner or someone walking a dog came through.

Speaking of dogs, their waste — often left on the trail — would be washed by rain into the wetland. Not good for water quality or turtles, Guderyahn pointed out.

So the city changed the proposed route for the Gresham-Fairview Trail, moving it east. The city also created a soft curve in the trail over higher ground, providing a better view of the wetlands.

“We thought it was a win-win,” Guderyahn said. Protected turtles, enhanced views for trail users.

Local residents cried foul. The trail moving east moved it closer to their homes off of Battaglia Avenue. In addition, to further protect the turtles and other species, people no longer were allowed to access the network of dirt trails surrounding the old railroad bed.

“It goes beyond the turtles,” said Guderyahn, who is now the city’s watershed restoration coordinator. “The diversity of species is just incredible. It’s a gem.”

The area is home to hundreds of bird species, frogs, salamanders, coyotes and deer. The red-legged frog — listed by the state of Oregon as sensitive, meaning that its population is declining and should be researched — lives there.

To minimize disturbances, guided walking tours are available through the city of Gresham and local conservation groups. Otherwise, accessing the area is punishable by a fine of up to $2,500.

Curious sight

Then this May, local residents noticed a curious sight along that old railroad bed.

Big trucks.

Heavy equipment.

Construction crews digging a 3-foot-deep trench right smack dab in the middle of that sensitive area.

“I feel lied to,” said Edie Unterseher, whose back deck overlooks the paved trail. “We didn’t want the trail right behind our houses. We wanted it on the old railroad tracks. And now they’re doing all of this on the tracks. If they can do this on the tracks, they could have built it on the tracks.

“It’s closed to protect the sensitive wildlife and yet,” she says, sweeping an arm toward a huge truck hauling freshly dug dirt. “It’s just, it’s just weird.”

She and her husband John have lived in their home for 35 years. They remember when trains moved strawberries along the railroad. “Our kids have walked those trails,” John said. “It was cool to walk down there and see the frogs and the turtles.”

If the paved path had to be moved east to preserve the wetland, why wouldn’t the sewer pipe go in east of the old railroad bed as well, Edie wondered.

The city did consider it, Guderyahn said. But to the immediate east of the paved trail is an underground natural gas pipeline. So digging there was less than ideal.

Planners also considered trying to coordinate construction of the trail, built in 2009-10, with the sewerline project. That way they could lay the underground sewer line, then pave over the top with the trail. But the timing was off by a few years.

Since digging up the trail to lay the new sewer pipe was a ridiculous notion, Guderyahn got to work coordinating its construction with construction crews, just like she did in 2008 when a waterline was trenched under the wetland.

Partnering for protection

For a year and a half, Guderyahn has teamed up with construction crews to protect the local wildlife. They’ve timed the project to take place before the turtles nest and lay eggs. A turtle fence lines both sides of the trail in the construction zone. It’s chain link with holes big enough to let snakes and frogs through. And it’s tall enough, about 18 inches, to keep turtles in but allow coyotes and deer to step over.

Six inches of the 2-foot fence are underground to prevent critters from digging underneath it. Guderyahn or construction workers check the fence each day for damage to make sure nobody’s cut a hole through it.

Further protecting the habitat are large white tanks used to filter groundwater that seeps up while the trench is dug. Filtered water is then returned to the wetland.

Some may think the undertaking is a bit much just for a bunch of turtles. But Guderyahn said the city’s five-year effort to protect the area, and its wildlife, is paying off with rare generational data on the turtles.

Every year, she sets baited traps for the turtles, which she then weighs, measures and puts notches in their shells to document them for future identification. She also photographs the shells — each has a unique pattern akin to a fingerprint that she uses to identify each one and track its growth.

She partners with residents near the wetland to monitor nests and document hatchlings. Now she’s able to trap a turtle, identify it and know which turtle is its mother.

So far, she’s notched the shells of more than 150 turtles.

And this May, during her three days of identification trapping, she weighed, measured and photographed 100 turtles. “They’re very healthy,” Guderyahn said.

In fact, this annual documentation allowed her to recognize a turtle found a few weeks ago by a resident of Gresham’s Hollybrook neighborhood.

Guderyahn identified it as a male that she’d last seen in the wetland in 2008. He still had his notches, but based on markings on his shell’s undercarriage, Guderyahn said the turtle spent the past three years in an aquarium. She suspects that someone found the turtle, took it home as a pet, and for whatever reason, released him into the Hollybrook area.

Thanks to that neighbor who called in, Guderyahn was able to return the turtle to the wetland. “Where it should be,” she added.

But she’s most thrilled with the discovery of Grandma Powell.

“I’d been worrying about her all this time,” Guderyahn said. When a few years passed without sightings of her, Guderyahn wondered if the turtle made a yearly habit of trying to cross busy Powell Boulevard. “I thought she may have been hit by a car.”

So this May when Guderyahn reunited with the turtle that started it all, she literally screamed. “When I saw her, I gave her a big kiss and was very happy,” she said. “Relieved. I was screaming.”

Guderyahn is pleased to report that Grandma Powell is not only thriving, she’s the largest turtle Guderyahn has tracked to date.

At 22 centimeters across, or about 8-1/2 inches in diameter, Grandma Powell weighs in at 1,200 grams, or about 3 pounds, 10 ounces.

And while it’s impolite to talk about a lady’s age, Guderyahn estimated that the old girl is 25 to 30 years old.

“At least.”