{"id":36325,"date":"2026-09-05T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=36325"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T20:30:19","slug":"an-ohio-nuclear-plant-left-850-acres-untouched-for-safety-and-a-threatened-spotted-turtle-found-the-wetland-it-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/an-ohio-nuclear-plant-left-850-acres-untouched-for-safety-and-a-threatened-spotted-turtle-found-the-wetland-it-needed\/36325\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ohio nuclear plant left 850 acres untouched for safety, and a threatened spotted turtle found the wetland it needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Among buttonbush, far from the Perry Nuclear Power Plant<\/a> reactor building near Ohio\u2019s Lake Erie shores sits a shallow brown pool. Looking close to the duckweed the attentive eye sees an almost black shell dotted with yellow spots on its surface. It is a rare spotted turtle, living in one of the last remaining wetlands that has been largely undisturbed since the early 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that this marsh exists as a turtle reserve was not intentional. It happened to survive because a wider buffer around the nuclear plant was demanded through federal safety rules. In turn, for a state that has already drained about 90% of its original wetlands, accidental protection matters. A lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s vanished wetlands made this marsh unusually valuable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The state of Ohio\u2019s wetland loss<\/a> can not possibly be understated. The once Great Black Swamp that covered a big part of the state\u2019s northwestern corner has had its underground drains, ditches and levees all converted into highly productive farmland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More: An Ohio nuclear plant left 850 acres untouched for safety, and a threatened spotted turtle found the wetland it needed<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the risk of being renamed to Black Swamp what remained of it are often small and isolated areas, often cut off by roads and farms. For endangered species like the spotted turtle a four-lane highway is usually a death sentence. Between one seasonal pool<\/a> and another a short movement usually becomes a trap, which makes it so that holding water through midsummer is of fundamental value for the wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the Perry nuclear buffer stayed wild<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Lake County, 40 miles southwest of Cleveland the Perry plant was built and started supplying electricity to the grid in 1986. Only a fraction of the company\u2019s 1,100 acres property is used to generate power though. The rest is needed because of the possible risks nuclear plants can pose. Its boiling water reactor producing roughly 1,240 megawatts each hour must have a controlled surrounding land area for emergency planning, exclusion distances<\/a> and physical protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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