ClearWater Conservancy Hosts Evening Vernal Pool Tour At Scotia Barrens March 26

ClearWater Conservancy is offering an opportunity to witness and explore a distinctive and temporary habitat when it hosts its Adventures in Conservation event at the Scotia Barrens on March 26 from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

 

Participants will discover the importance of vernal pools while learning what makes them so unique.

 

“We love to get people outdoors and show them the beauty of nature,” said Katie Ombalski, conservation biologist at ClearWater. “It’s quite a site to see so many migrating spotted salamanders. They are truly incredible and beautiful animals.”

 

Scotia Barrens is a unique Pennsylvania habitat with one of the largest pitch pine- scrub oak barrens left in the state. It is also one of the largest sources of groundwater for Bellefonte’s Big Spring and a great place for education and study of its natural resources.

 

The evening will be a special opportunity for the group to see examples of vernal pools – also called seasonal pools – that support a diversity of rarely seen species. Vernal Pools are required breeding habitat for many amphibians including spotted salamander, Jefferson salamander, and wood frogs. They are also home to uncommon invertebrates such as fairy shrimp. These seasonal pools offer a reproductive safe haven as they are free of predatory species such as fish.

 

“Frozen frogs, courting salamanders, raucous chorusing, and home-finding migrations… amphibians have evolved those astounding adaptations to exploit vernal pools, and witnessing the sights and sounds of their seasonal migrations can leave a lasting impression,” said Jim Julian, Penn State Ecology doctoral student. “My program will highlight how the abundance of vernal pools and forested upland habitat at the Barrens allow the vernal pool species there to thrive.”

 

Jim Julian is from the Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center and a doctoral student in Ecology at Penn State and will lead the tour.

 

Interested participants should register by March 20. Reservations are limited to 30 people.

 

Reservations can be made by calling 814-237-0400 or by sending email to Sarah Edge at sarah@clearwaterconservancy.org.