A group of concerned vernal pool ecologists, managers, educators, regulators, and consultants have created four vernal pool working groups to foster collaborations across disciplines to better manage vernal pools at landscape scales. Our participants are from the forested areas of the Northeast but welcome others from the Midwest and Atlantic Canada.  Please see if learning more about any of these groups is of interest to you.

Please address inquiries to Aram Calhoun calhoun@maine.edu, and put VP WG inquiry in subject line.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Goal: To develop a user-driven clearinghouse for current science and conservation initiatives so others have easy access to current research and to ongoing conservation strategies.

Goal:  To improve local stewardship of vernal pools through the engagement and education of diverse stakeholders.  To adapt and make easily acceptable management guidelines for landowners.

Goal: To develop and evaluate spatially explicit multi-scale models that incorporate and assess incomplete data and which play out the consequences of different socio-ecological contexts and management decisions. For example, models that evaluate landscape designs for vernal pool plus forest conservation, and that account for variations in zoning, landowner desires, environment, while anticipating the changing climate.”

Goal:  To foster research on vernal pool ecosystems beyond the predominant focus on amphibians, including:

1. Other biota (particularly obligate invertebrates such as fairy shrimp, pathogens, and invasive species)
2. Invertebrate community structure and dynamics
3. Ecosystem processes such as biogeochemical cycling