I’m very happy to see that the State of New York has dramatically increased the protections for vernal pools recently. They have always been the “red-headed stepchild” of our wetlands. Let’s learn a little bit about the new rules and about these critical pools.

A vernal pool is a wetland that is created in the Spring from snow melt and heavy rains. They are temporary and dry up during the Summer. The word vernal comes from Latin and literally means “of the Spring.”

New York has incorporated strong regulations to protect our wetlands. Water means life. Thankfully, gone are the days when we readily bulldoze another swamp to put up a strip mall.

Article 24 of State Law safeguards “regulated” wetlands. The Freshwater Wetlands Act was upgraded in 2025 to now include productive vernal pools and also often 100-foot buffers around them.

Vernal pools are important breeding grounds for many animals and insects, some of which are endangered or threatened. Previously, the law had only protected a few pools on Long Island to help safeguard the breeding grounds of the endangered Tiger salamander.

Why do animals breed in these vernal pools? Since they dry up during the Summer, these pools cannot support fish populations, which are predators for many of the young of the salamanders, frogs, and invertebrates.

Countless species rely on these pools. A few random examples include our local endangered spotted salamanders, as well as wood frogs, spring peepers, mole salamanders, wood turtles, dragonflies, fairy shrimp, and fingernail clams. The list goes on and on.

Many other species drink from them and frequently visit them, such as deer, raccoons, wood ducks, spotted turtles, garter snakes, and blue herons, to name a few. Vernal pools are an important part of the environment.

Now that we have the new protections in place, the important thing will be to identify the pools. The DEC needs our help for that. If you see large numbers of frogs or salamanders crossing the roads during a migration, please report it so that important vernal pools can be identified and listed. Hop on the DEC site at on.ny.gov/4eMRPRe for more info.

Two fun facts: there are more vernal pools in the Hudson Valley than anywhere else in the State, and mole salamanders are a group of salamanders that live much of their lives underground.

Let’s all enjoy the outdoors!