Presentation at the April vernal pool workshop given by David R. Celebreeze of the Ohio Environmental Council.

1. Vernal Pool Monitoring
Workshop
Lorain County MetroParks
April 9, 2011
David R. Celebrezze
Director of Air & Water
Special Projects

2. Funding provided by:

3. In collaboration with:

4. Sponsors:

5. Donations from:

6. Who is the OEC?
The Ohio Environmental Council
advocates for healthy air, land,
and water to make Ohio a better
place in which to live, work, and
play.
Promote policies based on sound
science
Value collaborations
Work through legislative and
legal action as well as on –the-
ground assistance with various
groups

7. OEC’s Ag & Water Program
» Restoration/protection of Great
Lakes
» Mercury
» Coal
» Ditches
» Wetlands
» Statehouse
» facilitate 5 watershed councils

8. OEC’s Vernal Pool Program
» Raise awareness of vernal pools and
the links that make it an integral
part of a healthy ecosystem and
improve quality of life.

9. OEC’s Vernal Pool Program
» Ohio Vernal Pool Partnership
(w/listserv) (www.ovpp.org)
» Curriculum
» Educational video
» Field guide
» Workshops
» On-line database
» Waders in the water

10. What is a vernal pool?
» Seasonal wetland that are separated from other
bodies of water
» Usually dry up by summer’s end
» NO PREDATORY FISH!!
» Meet hydric soil, hydrology, flora criteria
A mini ecosystem that plays out every spring. A small but
dynamic, wetland that fills with water, blossoms with life and
hosts a cacophony of sounds and a plethora of life forms every
spring, only to disappear into the forest floor every autumn.

11. American Bullfrog Caddisfly
Wood frog Predacious diving
Green frog beetle Who lives in a vernal pool?
Northern Leopard frog Crawling water beetle
Pickerel frog Water scavenger
Gray Treefrog beetle
Spring Peeper Whirligig beetle
Spadefoot toad Common green
American toad darner
Fowler’s toad Black-tipped
Water mites
Spotted salamander Dragonfly Amphipod
Marbled salamander Yellow-legged Isopod
Blue-spotted meadowhawk Fairy shrimp
salamander Common baskettails Clam shrimp
Jefferson salamander Frosted whiteface Ostracod
Re-spotted newt Four-spotted Daphnia
Four-toed salamander Skimmer Copepod
Redback salamander Backswimmers Amphibious snails
Northern water snake Water boatman Fingernail clam
Eastern garter snake Water scorpion Horsehair worm
Ribbon snake Giant water bug Planaria
Spotted turtle Water strider Leech
Wood turtle Fishfly Aquatic oligochaete
Blanding’s turtle Mayfly worms Photo: L. Lee Cerny
Snapping turtle Chironomid midge Swamp white oak
Eastern painted turtle Phantom midge Sweet pepperbush
Eastern box turtle Mosquito Three-way sedge
Springtails

12. Who lives in a vernal pool?
Tussock sedge Balsam fir
Viburnum Beggar’s-ticks, stick-
Water lilies tights
White oak Birches
White pine Black ash
White spruce Black willow
Willows Black spruce
Winterberry Bladderwort Marsh fern
Northern white
Withered, wild raisin Bluejoint cedar
Yellow birch Box elder Pin oak
Sedges Bulrushes Pitch pine
Sensitive fern Burreed Poison ivy
Sheepberry Buttonbush Pondweeds
Sheep laurel Cardinal flower Red maple
Silver maple Catbriar Red spruce
Smooth alder Cinnamon fern Reed canary grass
Stinging nettle Eastern cottonwood River birch
Speckled alder Green ash Rushes
Swamp loosestrife, Hemlock Mallard Duck
walter Willow Highbush blueberry Wood Duck
Alders Leatherleaf Raccoon
American elm Maleberry Canada Geese
Photo: Ray Stewart
Arrowwood Manna grasses Snow Geese
Atlantic white cedar

13. Functions and Benefits
» Flood control-process thousands (or millions) of
gallons of storm water each year.
» Mosquito control
» Improves water quality
» Educational opportunities
» Recreational opportunities (photography)
» Habitat to hundreds of species
» Improves property values and quality of life

14. It starts early with plenty of room

15. Then it becomes crowded…

16. How to monitor a pool
» Don’t trespass!
» Always go in pair and/or carry a cell phone
» Plan your trip during the day
» Take pictures
» Listen to the frog and toad call cd before
heading out.
» Become a vernal pool ambassador
» Send a copy of the data to us

17. OEC’s on-line database
» Check to see if any vernal pools are monitored
in your area.
» If a vernal pool may be impacted contact us to
see if it has/is being monitored

18. How to monitor a pool
» Dip net
» Observation tray
» Camera/video
» Notepad
» Forms will be gone over in small groups

19. How to find a vernal pool
Ohio EPA map
Check out National Wetland Inventory
- www.fws.goc/nwi/
- Click on “wetlands mapper”
- Next “Go to wetalnds mapper”
- Click on map of the US
- Find landowner via auditor website
Photo: ODNR

20. Solutions: Ohio’s Vernal Pool
Mitigation Program
» Compensatory mitigation program
» Developers who destroy a wetland must replace
them
» Focused on vernal pools to increase their
numbers
» If you have appropriate land you can enroll

21. Solutions: The OEC’s Vernal
Pool Protection and
Restoration Fund
» Pay land owner to not impact pool
» Monitor and educate for ten years
» Need monitoring teams
» Currently shell program-no funds

22. Wetlands quick overview

23. Wetlands- Historical Aspect
» Original around 5,000,000
acres
» Acreage lost: 4,517,200
» Less than 2% of Ohio is now
wetlands
90+%

24. Main Culprits
» Poorly planned developments
» Ignorance:
» Vernal pools are dry by
summer’s end
» Illegal filling

25. Solutions: Ohio EPA 401
proposed rules
» Every 5 years the Agency reviews the rules that
govern how a permit to impact a wetland is
issued/denied.
» The OEC participated in the many wetland and
stream external advisory groups
» The good:
» Performance standards for mitigated
wetlands
» The bad:
» No avoidance language
» The ugly:
» Many wetlands are mitigated outside the
watershed

26. Ohio EPA 401 permit applications
» Sign up to mailing list
» Contact Patti Smith at
patti.smith@epa.state.oh.us
» Let her know you want to sign up for the
401 application notices for X county.
» Submit comments (team up with your local
watershed group)

27. How You Can Get Involved
» Contact local watershed group
» Join the OVPP listserv
» Stay on top of legislation and take
action on it by signing up for the OEC’s
Action Alerts at www.theOEC.org.
1207 Grandview Avenue, Suite 201
Columbus, OH 43212
(614) 487-7506
OEC @theOEC.org
www.theOEC.org