Alert:
Ellanor C. Lawrence Park worked closely with the Virginia Herpetological Society (VHS) to design and install a wayside information sign in the park that includes life-size pictures of salamanders and frogs. The sign displays QR codes that let you hear frog calls on a smartphone. It also has information on the best ways to interact with vernal pools, and it provides information about how you can protect them.
Vernal pools are temporary puddles of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are largest in the spring and go dry later in the year. Despite being dry at times, they teem with life when they are filled.
Naturalist and historian Tony Bulmer, who has monitored vernal pools for more than one and a-half decades, notes that the pools need protection so that they continue to provide avenues for visitors to learn about amphibians in our forests. Spotted salamanders, wood frogs, American and Fowler toads are some of the species that breed in vernal pools.
For information about the Herpetological Society visit www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com.
