"We're curious about how this will work but we don't have any plans to do this as the standard procedure," he said.
According to Branch, the wetlands that shelter the turtles make up a unique ecosystem that benefits from some light grazing.
Branch said officials discussed using cattle to graze the approximately 8-acre tract but decided the size differential between a 1,000-pound steer and a 4-inch turtle did not work in the reptile's favor.
The goats were on the job Tuesday at the highway agency's tract near the northern end of the bypass, which will divert traffic on now-clogged Route 30 around downtown Hampstead after it opens this summer. Most of the herd remained back in the brush, warily eyeballing a clutch of human visitors while munching away at the lush vegetation. But a pair of bolder billy goats strolled down to check out the intruders. One looked quizzically at a pair of bog turtles that biologists had found at the site -- but turned away after apparently concluding the reptiles were not goat food.
There was a time about a decade ago, Branch recalled, when it was openly suggested in a local newspaper editorial that the bog turtle might make a tasty soup.
Emotions in Carroll County have at times run high over the much-desired bypass, which has been under discussion for 20 to 30 years, and the turtle that has been seen as the main obstacle to building it. Highway and environmental officials have spent years figuring out how and where to build the bypass. Branch said building the road "took a couple more years than if the turtle was not here."
But he said reaction to the suggestion of bog turtle soup was not especially favorable and that the local consensus is people want their road and their turtle, too.
"They were certainly very pro-turtle but they were certainly also very pro-road," Branch said.
Upon meeting members of the species, it's hard to envision that anyone would want to throw them into a steaming tureen. The bog dweller is an unusually colorful turtle, with a distinctive splash of orange color on their necks, and a mixed orange and brown skin color under their shells. They are the smallest turtle species in North America, said Craig Patterson, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.
Patterson said the turtle is found in the northern tier of four Maryland counties - Carroll, Baltimore, Harford and Cecil. Its northern range extends as far north as southern New England, and a separate population cluster - separated from its northern cousins by hundreds of miles - lives in the Carolinas and Georgia, he said.
Branch said he's happy with the collaboration that has allowed the bypass to be built while sparing the most critical turtle habitat. The road is expected to open this summer.
"It's been just a great experience for a lot of folks," he said.
The goats had no comment.
