Success Stories

Bringing vernal pools back to life

by Traci Miller

Many people know that vernal pools are temporary wetland habitats that appear in the rainy spring and dissipate over the hot summer months. Because these unique woodland puddle-ponds are isolated (i.e., not connected to larger bodies of water), they’re free from fishy predators, making them ideal breeding spaces for amphibians and invertebrates.

In Bath County, obligate species like spotted salamanders, wood frogs, and Jefferson salamanders require vernal pool habitats to complete their life cycles, specifically for breeding and larval development. Also integral to the vernal pool ecosystem are many species of native plants, like sedges, rushes, wildflowers, and shrubs that spring up in and around them. These plants thrive in fluctuating wet environments, providing food and shelter for a fascinating  and diverse community of wetland creatures.

Vernal pools were once prominent features of the local landscape, but development, logging, and agriculture have resulted in habitat loss and degradation over time. The landscape of our Cowpasture River property evidenced years of human activity, most recently a selective and messy  timber harvest.  For years, we’ve enjoyed camping and kayaking along the river, but much of the property has been inaccessible most of the time.

So how do a couple of  environmentally-inclined  landowners restore a significant system of vernal pools on their remote river property? They call Mike Hayslett of Virginia Vernal Pools, LLC.  Mike is a Vernal Pool Evangelist, a self-described Frog Farmer, and a gifted wetlands engineer. He brings equal parts enthusiasm and expertise to the complicated assessment of land features: contour, elevation, geology, and hydrology. Mike’s crew and associates, Dale and Greg Loan of Loan Tree Service, studied our scruffy property and came up with a plan.

The extraordinary restoration of our two-acre wetland took into account the complex interaction among all of these factors, resulting in a system of 10 vernal pools. Individual pools are connected by a meandering trail that features a clever cedar bridge and poolside log bench. Our river property has been transformed.

Why did we do it? From the onset, we understood the importance of vernal pools to the forest ecology, the need for biodiversity, and the intricate interdependence among the plant and animal species that make homes along the river. But we were astonished when the pools filled immediately, and not just with murky water. So many of the species we hoped to support arrived overnight : frogs, turtles, dragonflies, beetles, and salamanders. And they got down to business!  Our pools were quickly dotted with egg sacs and buzzing and bubbling with life.

Now we watch with delight from our bench, startled when a stealthy critter plops into a pool, just inches away.  We know that for years to come, these wetland colonizers will feed the forest and balance the insect population. The pools will support native flora and larger fauna, offer connectivity to the river and nearby marsh, and help to control flooding and erosion. We’ll witness this amazing revival  born of restoration from our kayaks and campsite, and we’ll keep talking about vernal pools.