Vernal Wetland, South Mountain

Beneath the leafy canopy of the Central Appalachians lie some of the forest’s most prized and mysterious wetlands.

Disguised as large, shallow pools to the untrained observer, these seasonal bodies of water fill in the springtime and are ideal breeding grounds for salamanders and frogs, which are in steep decline around the world.

“When we think of threats to the Central Appalachians, many of us are concerned with energy extraction, deforestation and stream impacts, but often lost in the protection efforts are vernal pools,” says Anne Barrett, the Conservancy’s South Mountain landscape director. In addition to being strongholds for amphibians, the pool complexes may serve as filters for underground water systems that flow through caves and limestone formations into our streams and rivers.

According to scientists, inch for inch, vernal pools may be one of the most productive habitats in the Northeast. Unfortunately, these pools are dry for much of the year, and most people don’t realize that they are critical habitat and legally protected wetlands.

“They might be easy to overlook, but vernal pools are wetlands—and they need to be protected as such,” adds Ron Ramsey, the chapter’s director of government relations. “Because identifying these special places can be a challenge, it’s important to promote greater awareness of their characteristics and appreciation for the habitat they provide.”

Barrett explains that stronger protections are a priority for the chapter because the Appalachians contain Pennsylvania’s two most extensive and highest-quality vernal pool complexes. The Conservancy has identified more than 500 pools throughout South Mountain and in the Minsi Lake Corridor. It is now helping local landowners identify these seasonal wetlands and better understand their significance within the ecosystem in order to abate threats from increasing development, logging and mining.

“Because South Mountain is so close to major population centers, such as Baltimore, Washington and Harrisburg, there is tremendous demand for the land,” says Barrett. “It also is prime real estate for sand and gravel-mining activities—all of which can collapse the pool system by contaminating the water quality or by filling in the pool depressions.”

In order to save these fragile wetlands, the Conservancy’s focus has been to identify where they are and to combine its own protection efforts with an initiative to educate landowners on how to recognize a vernal pool even in the dry season.

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program has completed the first part of this approach by compiling a statewide inventory of Pennsylvania’s vernal pools. Barrett and other Conservancy staff are now working with the state and local partners to provide better wetlands education through demonstration sites like the Conservancy’s new Kings Gap Vernal Pool Preserve, near Carlisle.

Reprinted with permission from Penn’s Woods, The Nature Conservancy Pennsylvania Chapter.

Link: Seasonal Pools Registry for Pennsylvania

3/28/2008