Vernal Pools in Hawksnest State Park

Vernal pools on Cape Cod form in small, shallow depressions that intersect seasonally high water tables, and generally only exist during the wet spring months. During the dry months, the water table drops and the level of the pool lowers too, until it eventually dries up. Because of the seasonal drying, the wide variety of organisms that live in these pools are free from fish predation.


View Vernal Pools around Hawksnest State Park in a larger map

Many organisms breed in vernal pools, and some amphibians such as wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum) and spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), breed here exclusively.

If a vernal pool is destroyed, the pool-dependent species living there will be unable to find alternate breeding pools. Vernal pools also seem to be important to migrating animals, or those fleeing disturbed habitats.

Acid rain, contaminated runoff, and changes in runoff amounts can cause severe damage to vernal pool habitats, and often people fill pools because they mistakenly think the waters are lifeless.

In order to be legally protected, vernal pools must be mapped and certified by the Natural Heritage Program, but most are not currently mapped. Additionally, only those certified pools within lands subject to flooding and bordering vegetated wetlands can actually be protected under Massachusetts' Wetlands Protection Act.

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