Hailing from the East Coast, Jordan has spent roughly equal amounts of time cultivating his love as a wildlife biologist and naturalist in the woods of New York, Virginia, and Georgia. It was in these areas where a profound interest and knowledge for the herpetological world was developed. Living on the East Coast and making regular Atlantic beach and coastal birding trips, Jordan realized a particular passion for the several subspecies of the diamondback terrapin Malaclemys terrapin. Having first begun “rescue efforts” of nesting females and their progeny in coastal Delaware, Jordan began the bulk of his efforts towards terrapin conservation, research, and outreach in Savannah, Georgia. In 2004 as an undergraduate, he spearheaded an organization at the Armstrong Atlantic State University called Project Diamondback and a road survey group called The Terrapin Rescue Patrol. These organizations focused on the recovery of salvageable eggs and collection of data from road kill females on U.S. Highway 80 which connects mainland Georgia to Tybee Island. Through this, undergraduates were afforded husbandry and research opportunities rearing juvenile terrapins in a laboratory setting for release into the salt marshes surrounding Tybee Island.  In 2007 Jordan co-developed a “Terrapins in the Classroom” program involving local middle schools, where data could be collected on both terrapin growth patterns and student academic achievement. All of these programs were then absorbed under the dynamic umbrella of T.E.R.P.S, the Terrapin Educational Research Program of Savannah. In addition to the facets of the organization already established, extensive outreach, public speaking, field and laboratory research experiments continue to evolve under the T.E.R.P.S name. Collectively, these programs have garnered Jordan’s vision much acclaim and extensive media coverage, including six televised news casts, fourteen newspaper articles, two magazine publications, featured talks at eight symposiums and conferences, and was recognized as the Savannah Morning News’ Annual Person of Impact in 2006. After seven years of dedicating his time to terrapins and their preservation, Jordan relocated March of 2011 to take a zoo keeper position with the Houston Zoo’s Natural Encounters Department. Through his work with several other taxa of the animal kingdom and various herpetofauna, he continues to expand and diversify his working knowledge of wildlife.

The diamondback terrapin Malaclemys terrapin is an estuarine emydid whose range extends from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Corpus Christ, Texas. Seven subspecies are recognized to inhabit brackish coastal waters throughout this range. Once highly sought after as a culinary delicacy, the terrapin now faces a gauntlet of anthropogenic threats to its continued existence as a herpetological staple of America’s coast. Factors including road mortality, habitat fragmentation and augmentation, an increase in subsidized predation, collection for domestic and international meat markets, and fisheries, most notably the crab industry, pose persistent threats to the stability of terrapin populations. Through state-to-state legislation and regional and local conservation initiatives, terrapins have shown resilience in areas where their populations are subject to a constant assault from such factors.  It is only through the continued proactivity of conservationists and the citizens co-habiting these areas that terrapins will continue to show this fortitude as human habitation continues its explosive growth along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. We will explore the life history of the terrapin, the dynamic programs of the Terrapin Educational Research Program of Savannah, collaborations with other institutions, and various regional initiatives throughout their range to collectively learn from the successes and failures of others as how to best preserve our Texas representative of the terrapin, Malaclemys terrapin littoralis.

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