Northeast-Midwest Vernal Pools Collaborative
Small Wetlands, Regional Impact
Strengthening vernal pool conservation across the 177-million-acre northern temperate forest, from Minnesota to Maine.
Driving Vernal Pool Conservation through Regional Collaboration
The Northeast-Midwest Vernal Pools Collaborative is a public-private partnership working to advance vernal pool conservation across the region by developing a sustainable, scalable framework for identifying, verifying, and monitoring vernal pools, supporting learning exchange among researchers, practitioners, and communities, and strengthening community science resources.
Funded by NASA’s ROSES Citizen Science for Earth Systems Program, our collaborative is closing critical knowledge gaps and building the tools and relationships needed to support more informed conservation and management decisions.
Our Work
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Regional Database and Standardized Frameworks
Our collaborative maintains a living, open-source vernal pool database and standardized framework for identifying, verifying, and monitoring vernal pools across the region.
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Progress Through Learning Exchange
We support researchers and practitioners across the region by creating opportunities to learn from each other’s successes, challenges, and innovative practices to guide better conservation and management of these fragile ecosystems.
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Connected Communities and Conservation
Vernal pool conservation requires coordinated action across local and landscape contexts. With community science central to our methodology, we equip people to engage directly with their landscapes and contribute data that supports research and informs tools for conservation.
What are Vernal Pools?
Vernal pools are small natural features characterized by ephemeral hydroperiods and lack of fish predators.
The ephemeral hydroperiod of these small wetlands drives biodiversity within the pool basin and into their surrounding landscapes, contributing to biomass that supports nutrient cycling and strengthening forest resilience by adding habitat diversity to the landscape matrix.
With disproportionate ecological influence, akin to keystone species, vernal pools support life cycles, food webs, and broader forest ecosystem function. Yet, they remain difficult to find, verify, and protect at scale.
Why Should We Protect Vernal Pools?
Vernal pools are easily overlooked because of their small size and seasonal nature, and while new mapping tools have improved detection, they are still costly and limited. Limited awareness of their value, by the public, scientists, and natural resource professionals, can lead to perceptions of insignificance and make it challenging to develop policies and legal frameworks for their conservation. Undervalued and often unidentified, vernal pools face threats from development, invasive species, logging, and climate change, making collaborative management at local and landscape scales essential.
The mission of the Northeast-Midwest Vernal Pools Collaborative is to increase awareness, understanding and protection of vernal pools through regional collaboration to support vernal pool conservation, research, mapping, education & outreach.
Resources By State
Explore Vernal Pool Resources From Where You Live
On-the-ground conservation is critical to vernal pool conservation, and local communities are the experts of their landscapes. Use this site to find local, state-specific ways to engage with vernal pool conservation.
Latest News & Updates
Protecting the Coral Reefs of the Northern Forest
Join us in bringing these hidden wetlands into view. Whether you are a land manager, researcher, or conservation partner, your data, expertise, and engagement can strengthen the conservation science of vernal pools. Connect with us to share data, explore collaboration, or get involved in vernal pool monitoring in your state.
