Vernal Pools for ME

Hands holding tadpolesInstitution: University of Maine

Sponsor: Maine Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI)

Vernal Pools for ME

The Vernal Pools for ME project highlights and enhances the connection between stakeholders and  vernal pools by encouraging understanding of these special, small water resources through a portfolio of outreach materials.

Primary school children will learn about the diversity of animals that use vernal pools and conservation through songs and a hybrid coloring book and field guide. Middle school and high-school students will benefit from web-based videos. Lay people will benefit from easily accessible and engaging web-based outreach material such as social media and blogs.

This interdisciplinary outreach project builds on knowledge and opportunities provided by research conducted under three programs: the 2009 Sustainability Solutions Initiative and National Science Foundation’s Coupled Natural and Human Systems “Of Pools and People” grant on community based conservation of pools; the Special Area Management Plan for the New England Region of the Army Corps of Engineers created by the Vernal Pool Streamlining Working Group to put pool conservation in the hands of local people; and, a $47,789 Environmental Protection Agency grant.

Team Members:

  • Aram Calhoun, University of Maine Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions
  • Kristine Hoffmann of the UMaine Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology