Editor,
I would like readers to take a second look at vernal pools and not judge them so dismissively as did your editorial on May 12.
Vernal pools are an essential part of our ecosystem. Not only are they the breeding habitat for wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and fairy shrimp, but they are an important part of our surface and subsurface groundwater systems. Along with other wetlands, they have the ability to act like sponges, absorbing water after snowmelt or heavy rainfalls.
When vernal pools are destroyed, as many of them have been with sprawling development, we may experience more flooding and the lowering of our water table. Increased runoff also results in a reduction of water quality in our lakes and streams due to higher sediment and nutrient loads.
Vernal pools are also wonderful places to involve children in the natural world. Most children are fascinated by frogs, and nothing is more magical than watching tadpoles hatch out of a jelly-like mass of eggs.
Although some landowners may be inconvenienced by the passage of the vernal pool bill (LD 1981), we all have a stake in the protection and quality of our environment. At some point, each of us will be called on to make some sacrifice for the benefit of the greater good.
Instead of regarding vernal pools as liabilities, let us treat them as fragile and unique assets that are essential to the natural balance and integrity of our environment. Let’s remember, too, that every spring we get the pleasure of witnessing nature in action as frogs and salamanders return to the vernal pools to start a new generation.
Connie Cross
Casco
Send questions/comments to the editors.
