The Pearl River map turtle

The Pearl River map turtle (Graptemys pearlensis) exists nowhere else in the world except the Pearl and Bogue Chitto Rivers. It is listed as an Endangered Species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Wild populations of the Pearl River map turtle have declined as much as 98% since 1950, mostly due to water pollution impacting our river's mollusk population. According to a publication by Kristina Alexander from Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program, dredging and widening the Pearl for the One Lake project would threaten the habitat of this species and another threatened species, the ringed map turtle. The US Fish & Wildlife Service has stated that "(i)f the proposed reservoir is completed, it would likely result in the extirpation of the known ringed map turtle population (south of the current reservoir)." Read more here: http://masglp.olemiss.edu/publications/conservation/mapturtle.pd