04/22/24 - 117 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/9bh4zbtr
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PA Natural Heritage Program Offers Owners Of Vernal Pools Management Help
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Owners of unique wetlands called vernal pools can get hands-on management help from the PA Natural Heritage Program. Sign-ups for this service ends on May 15. Also known as seasonal pools, vernal pools are depressions in the forest that, during wet periods, fill with water from precipitation, runoff or snow melt, and/or ground water, and then dry during the summer months. Vernal pools are often the only wet areas found in otherwise dry upland forest habitats.
The seasonal nature of these pools is important because it excludes fish that would otherwise prey upon the eggs and young of salamanders and frogs. In the mid-Atlantic states over a quarter of all state-listed threatened and endangered salamanders and frogs are dependent on vernal pools.
Vernal pools support a wide variety of wildlife. Game animals such as deer, turkey, and bear visit pools to find food and water. Bats and a variety of waterfowl and songbirds including wood ducks, thrushes, and warblers feed on the rich insect “buffet” emerging from vernal pools.
However, vernal pools are most critically important as breeding and feeding habitat for certain frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, insects, snails, fingernail clams, and crustaceans. Many of these species have special adaptations to live in vernal pools and do poorly in permanent waters.
Because these small, sensitive wetland habitats can easily be disturbed or destroyed by human activities, the Vernal Pool project of the Landowner Incentive Program provides free management recommendations that encourage best management conservation practices for seasonal wetlands.
This service is available to private landowners in Pennsylvania who have vernal pools on their properties.
Landowners who enroll will be asked to list and prioritize the land use goals for their properties. A biologist knowledgeable about vernal pools will visit each property to assess the natural resources present in and around the vernal pools.
The biologist will then write a management plan that recommends specific management practices the landowner can use to reach sustainable land use goals while protecting the property’s vernal pools and the surrounding upland habitats.
There are no fees or commitments associated with these recommendations and the advice is non-binding.
This project was funded, in part, by grants received by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy: the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, Environmental Stewardship Fund, administered by Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Landowner Incentive Program, administered by the Fish and Boat Commission.
If you would like a vernal pool management plan developed for your property, visit the Seasonal Pools webpage or contact Betsy Leppo, Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, 208 Airport Drive, Middletown, PA 17057 or phone 717-948-3839 or send email to: bleppo@paconserve.org.
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3/1/2010 |
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