Both species are declining in numbers in Oregon, according to wildlife biologists. Private landowners are key to providing turtle habitat because most of their range is on land that is privately owned, said Goggans. There should be some areas at least six feet deep. There should be no chemical treatment or predators such as bullfrogs or bass. Basking and hiding sites.
Turtles use logs, root wads or large rocks to bask in the sun.
They also prefer a diversity of aquatic vegetation and underwater hiding areas. Newly hatched turtles need aquatic vegetation and small root wads to hide from predators and shallow areas of water with gradually sloping sides, less than a foot deep. Young turtles take three years to attain a size that predators like bullfrogs and bass can't easily eat them. Nesting habitat, the most needed requirement of any for the turtles in western Oregon's Willamette Valley. South or southwest-facing undisturbed sites that are undisturbed by plowing, grazing or flooding within 500 feet of a water body, with sparse vegetation and bare soil, as they dig a nest.