[0:00] Victoria Zablocki

Welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast. We're back today with another fantastic interview for you, and this one lights me up. I got the opportunity to chat with a friend all about vernal pools and the community science project Vernal Pool Patrol.

Lindsey Harrell's on today to share with us what vernal pools are, why they're important, where you could find some if you want to get involved, what an indicator species is, what kind of equipment you could use to survey vernal pools, how to keep your equipment clean, and more. But before we get started, I just wanted to share some of Lindsey's experiences with you. Lindsey has been an interpretive naturalist for eight years.

She's worked for the Indiana State Parks, Colorado Parks, and Wildlife and is currently at Chippewa Nature Center. One facet of her job is coordinating and guiding volunteers for Vernal Pool Patrol. She finds passion connecting community members to special ecosystems like vernal pools in hopes of increasing conservation efforts for them.

So on that note, let's dive right in. Teaching elementary-aged children is a rewarding experience, but as educators and parents, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in.

Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary. I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers on effective teaching methods, I'm passionate about teaching the whole child with authentic and place-based experiences in school and home settings.

Join me as we explore our strategies for teaching with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews and more. So let's grow together. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary podcast.

I'm super excited because today I have my friend Lindsey Harrell with me, and she's going to talk about one of my favorite little ecosystems. So I'm going to let Lindsey introduce herself and get started that way. So Lindsey, if you want to take it away with you and how you got started with Vernal Pools.

[2:13] Lindsey Harrell

Yeah, so I'm Lindsey. I work for Chippewa Nature Center as an Interpretive Naturalist. Through my work at the Nature Center, I learned about Vernal Pool Patrol, which is a community science project.

They were needing a coordinator for our county, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Now, three, I think three years later, maybe four right now, we're studying pools in the area.

[2:41] Victoria Zablocki

That's great. So we mentioned vernal pools, but not everybody knows what those are. So could you share with us what are vernal pools and why are they important?

[2:51] Lindsey Harrell

Yeah, most definitely. Vernal pools are a special kind of wetland that are only around for so many months out of the year. So typically, when you're walking in the woods late winter to early spring, you'll notice standing water.

More than likely, that is a vernal pool you're looking at. And then usually by July, sometimes it takes until maybe early September, the pool will disappear completely. So vernal pools are really important because they are a special wetland in sometimes the middle of the woods, and they offer an opportunity for frogs and salamanders to lay their eggs there.

And they're safe away from predators like fish. They could be a watering spot for a mammal or a different type of bird who needs food or refreshment by drinking the water. They play a role in the groundwater, so they can replenish the groundwater.

They can filter for the water supply. So they play a role for abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem.

[3:55] Victoria Zablocki

Awesome. All right. So not everyone has vernal pools in their green space because it takes, like you said, a forest. And so if they don't have a forest and they don't have vernal pools, do you have suggestions on where teachers and homeschool parents could look for vernal pools to be able to visit?

[4:10] Lindsey Harrell

Yeah, most definitely. So depending on where you're listening from, here in Michigan, we have the Vernal Pool Patrol through Michigan Natural Features Inventory and the Vernal Pool Partnership. The Vernal Pool Patrol website has a map with all the counties on it, and you can find a coordinator for your county through that website, and they can actually direct you to a vernal pool that way.

You can always try looking up local nature centers or state parks and getting a hold of somebody that works there. You could try going through national forests and state lands. I always encourage responsible adventuring, so definitely make sure you figure out if it's private land or what the rules are for trails.

If you're supposed to be on trail, then a vernal pool exploration is probably not the best fit for that location. But the best bet, if you're here in Michigan, then check out the coordinator page on Michigan Vernal Pool Patrol. And then there are some states that have monitoring opportunities, so just do a quick Google search of your state and Vernal Pool Community Science or Vernal Pool Monitoring.

And I've found that you can usually find something. Like I was Googling today just to get an idea for it. And I know like Maine, Connecticut, I saw that West Virginia had something. So Pennsylvania, I saw had something. So Google is our friend in this kind of opportunity.

[5:48] Victoria Zablocki

That's great. I had no idea that the Vernal Pool Patrol actually had like a legitimate map that people could go and look at. That's wonderful.

That's a great resource, which is crazy because a vernal pool can be so small. So to have a map is wonderful, but that must have been a lot of work to get there. So you mentioned the Citizen Science Project, Vernal Pool Patrol.

Could you share some more information with us? I know that not everybody that's listening is in Michigan, but this could give us an idea of what they could look for, like you said, by Googling. Could you share with us information about this project and why participation is so helpful for the scientific community?

[6:26] Lindsey Harrell

Yeah, most definitely. So Michigan Vernal Pool Patrol is a very well-organized community science project. I cannot get over the amount of organization and coordination that goes into this project.

They have a whole beautiful website that has training resources on it. Right now, they are doing their annual online training. So all the recordings are up once the day has passed.

So there's three training sessions, two learn how to monitor pools for the project, and then the recordings go up after. So all of that is available. So they have manuals that you can ID things like Crayfish or any really anything that you're going to find in a vernal pool.

They have a really good resource on their website for. So if you're an educator, 10 out of 10 recommend, even if you're not in the state of Michigan, some of the things will correlate for you depending on where you are in the states. So on top of all the resources that you can find, there are field days and there are exploration pool days that you can go to.

So if you're a homeschool parent or if you're an educator wanting to get to know more, it's a very low investment opportunity to be able to dip your feet, check out the vernal pools. It could be a good way to network and figure out where vernal pools are near you. So if you go again to the vernal pool website, there's a whole calendar on there that has stuff all over, like UP, Lower Peninsula, all over the place.

So 10 out of 10, recommend checking that out. If you are interested in doing this, all of the information we collect will be uploaded to a map that Michigan Natural Features Inventory monitors and all the information goes into a database to understand the distribution of vernal pools throughout Michigan. Vernal pools are one of the hardest wetlands to keep track of because they could be there for three years in a row, and then all of a sudden, they're just gone.

And if they happen to be gone during a time where that piece of land is going to be developed, then that could be a vital ecosystem where salamanders go to, and it's the only place maybe they can go to for a good distance to be able to have their babies. If that's gone, then that population of salamanders is going to have a hard time surviving and everything else that relies on that pool. So as we map more and get to know the distribution throughout Michigan, we can protect them more.

And protection looks different for all the states. Some are, there is actual legislation that says this amount of wetland is protected, or it can be a property owner, whether it's state or like a private organization who has already decided, okay, we know this is a vital ecosystem. We're going to go ahead and set this part of land aside.

So that's not going to be touched. So as we get to know the resources better and the distribution better, we can figure out how to protect them and conserve them.

[9:34] Victoria Zablocki

That's great, and that would be really empowering for your children to be in there getting involved because as part of those field days, you go in and you help collect, right? Could you share about what the collection looks like?

[9:48] Lindsey Harrell

That’s the best part of it is the collecting. I have done vernal pool patrolling with we toddlers all the way to high school adults, seniors, it's for everyone. If you are an actual patroller, that you've gone through all your training and you have the Survey123 form, you will be measuring how big your pool is, the temperature.

You'll do a bunch of measurements, and then you get to dive into looking for the actual animals, which is where the programming side comes in. If you come to Chippewa Nature Center, we have Vernal Pool Patrol Days, where I've done all the heavy lifting of, I need to figure out what the temperature is of the pool, what the size of it, I have to take pictures of it. Then once I get all that stuff done, people are invited to actually help me find the animals, which is my favorite part of patrolling.

We're dipping throughout the pool. Different animals can be found in different portions of the pool. You have to move mindfully through the waters, just in case there's little critters beneath your feet or egg sacs that are attached to branches you don't want to knock off or just resting on leaves.

You have to mindfully move throughout the pool, which slows you down enough to be able to take in everything. You're constantly finding tiny macroinvertebrates, which are small invertebrate animals that are very small, but not so small that you can't see them without a microscope. We're looking for salamanders, frogs, fairy shrimp, one of my favorites, which is an indicator species of a vernal pool, that they have to have a vernal pool or their life cycle will not thrive.

So we're looking for all these animals, recording all of them, and then later on, whether you're doing the form or I'm doing the form, it gets submitted to the map. And once it's on there, you can go to the website and you can go see your handiwork anytime you like.

[11:48] Victoria Zablocki

Fairy shrimp are one of my favorite as well. So you mentioned that fairy shrimp are an indicator species. If I remember correctly, are frogs also indicator species and what does that mean, being an indicator species?

[12:01] Lindsey Harrell

So wood frogs are an indicator species of vernal pools. An indicator species is one that can be found in the ecosystem that indicates the health of it. So for instance, around here in Midland County, you can get spotted salamanders and blue spotted salamanders.

They depend heavily on vernal pools for laying their eggs and mating. Same with wood frogs. So they can go to other aquatic areas, but they're going to have a higher success rate for survival of their young by going to vernal pools.

So they're considered an indicator species. And then fairy shrimp rely fully on vernal pools to be able to survive. I like to think of them as kind of like wildflowers in Michigan.

They need to go through a freeze thaw to kind of crack that harder shell so that when spring comes they can “germinate”. So fairy shrimp are the wildflowers of the vernal pools. They need to have the vernal pool be gone so that next year the eggs can react with the water and do their life cycle.

[13:13] Victoria Zablocki

I love that comparison. That's great. I never really thought about it that way, but that's wonderful.

Is there anything else that we haven't talked about yet that you'd like to mention about vernal pools, dipping in them, any of the animals, the importance to science, any other suggestions you have, like maybe equipment that you think would be helpful for teachers if they got into this, anything that you'd like to add?

[13:35] Lindsey Harrell

So equipment, it can be as fancy as bringing microscopes out and petri dishes to hold your little animals that you're looking at. It can be fancy dippers and nets, or it can be an aquarium net with a clear tupperware box and plastic spoons to get closer views. So you don't need super fancy equipment to do this.

You do need to ensure that your equipment is clean though. So biosecurity is a huge importance for this program. There's certain diseases that can affect the amphibians that you want to watch out for.

So if you do decide to go poking around, vernal pool to vernal pool, or even just using your rain boots that you've been kicking around in, you want to make sure you rinse them off. You use 10% bleach to spray them off. Let it sit for a little bit.

Once I'm done doing something in them, if I know I'm going to go into a vernal pool, I just go ahead rinse them, spray them with bleach. By the time you use them, the bleach will dissipate enough, you'll be fine. Just let it dry completely.

And you want to do the same thing with your equipment too. So make sure you wash your spoons, make sure you rinse your nets out, and then spray them everything with bleach. And that will just make sure that we're not spreading any weird fungal diseases or viruses around.

And it can help cut down on invasive species. There are certain things that it's not just habitat loss by humans, like human intervention, making it hard for vernal pools to survive. It can be also invasive species spreading around.

And so seeds can get stuck on your boots, and it's a whole vicious cycle of seeds spreading through the stuff on your shoes. So just keeping everything clean. Be a clean freak for this.

[15:22] Victoria Zablocki

That's great information. I don't think a lot of people really think about like keeping things clean when they go out into nature. But like you said, there's so many things that can happen and be transferred from one to another.

So being cognizant of that, those are great tips. Thank you, Lindsey, for your time. Is there a way that people can get a hold of you if they have any questions about trying to locate things?

We're going to put links, I'm going to put links in the show notes for like Vernal Pool Patrol and that sort of thing. But is there a way that people can get a hold of you if they have any questions that they want to clarify with you?

[15:52] Lindsey Harrell

Yeah, most definitely. So feel free to email me. Victoria can put my email on the link.

Feel free to reach out for any questions or if you're having a hard time finding a resource, I'm more than happy to help out. Stop by the Nature Center, feel free. I'm here usually six to five days a week.

[16:10] Victoria Zablocki

And I know we do have some local people, so hopefully people will take advantage of that. And I'm going to try personally to get out with my kiddos to one of the Vernal Pool Patrol collection days because that's one of my favorite things about vernal pools is getting in there, seeing what amazing creatures are in there and they're just so special. Yeah.

So thank you, Lindsey, for taking time to chat with us today about Vernal Pools and how teachers and homeschool families can get involved.

[16:34] Lindsey Harrell

You're more than welcome. I'm glad to be here. Vernal pools are a happy place for me, so I'm glad to share it.

[16:42] Victoria Zablocki

Wasn't that great? Lindsey is a very passionate individual when it comes to conservation and she really gets me fired up to volunteer. This is actually my first year volunteering with the Vernal Pool Patrol, and I'm so happy to be a part of this wonderful program.

[16:55] Victoria Zablocki

So for my nature note today, I wanted to share my firsthand experience patrolling a pool. Since we're in Michigan, it comes as no shock that my first visit to my assigned vernal pool included some snow. When we arrived, we could see the basin in the forest floor, and the water stains on the trees where the pool typically would be, but due to lower than typical snowmelt and rain, it looked a little low to us.

My partner and I began by surveying the space. Was it an open pool, a shrubby pool, a marsh pool? Was the pool isolated or connected to another water feature?

Then we took pictures from the north, east, south, and west directions to be uploaded later. We then got to look at the surrounding habitat. Was it a deciduous forest, a coniferous forest, a mixed forest, or something else?

We also got to look around and list any plants or animals that we found close by. So our pool is an open pool, meaning there were no trees, shrubs, or other plants sticking out of it. It's an isolated pool, meaning the only way water gets into it is from snowmelt or rain.

Our pool is in a mixed forest, meaning there's a combination of deciduous, aka leafy trees, and coniferous, aka needled trees. For plants, it was a little bit challenging to know exactly what trees we were looking at since they were bare, but we looked at the tree bark and the fallen leaves to identify red maple, red oak, ash, and white pine trees. And if you're thinking, wow, I can't do any of that, don't forget about those trainings that Lindsey mentioned.

They walk you through how to take all of these measurements, and they have a lot of resources for you to take along to help you identify organisms around you. We then went on to measure the abiotic or non-living things and started with measuring the length and width of our vernal pool, which turned out to be an interesting experience since our pool was not uniform in shape at all. After measuring the length and width, we moved on to taking the water depth measurements.

Our pool was pretty small and only came in at 7 inches deep at its deepest point. My knee-high boots were sufficient, but some vernal pools are much deeper and could require waders to move through the deepest parts. After getting our measurements, we moved on to the water temperature.

We used a floating thermometer provided by the Vernal Pool Patrol program to take the temps in one end of the pool, in the middle of the pool, and at the opposite end of the pool. And let me tell you, you wouldn't want to fall into these waters. They were brisk 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

After collecting the abiotic information, we moved on to the biotic or living things. We began by answering questions about the vegetation or plants in and around the pool. We also looked for invasive species to make note of.

Common and glossy buckthorn are invasive shrubs that leach chemicals into the soils around them and change the water chemistry of vernal pools, causing issues for the organisms that use them. Thankfully, our vernal pool didn't have any invasive species that we could see. We got to look for plant cover for animals that could provide egg attachment sites and or cover for young and adults to hide from predators.

Then finally, we got the chance to start collecting organisms from the pool. And when I say collecting, it's like catch and release fishing. We used dippers and nets to dip into the pool, look closely at the critters, and then release them back into the water.

We were specifically looking for indicator species like Lindsey and I talked about in the interview, including wood frogs, spotted salamanders, blue spotted salamanders, fairy shrimp, and fingernail clams. We got many of the typical vernal pool species, including copepods, isopods, bloodworms, and water mites, but we also got some surprises, including diving beetle larvae. With it being so cold still, we didn't see any evidence of frogs or salamanders at the time.

We get to go back again in mid-April to survey the same pool, and hopefully we'll get a chance to see and hear frogs in our pool, one of my favorite spring sounds. If vernal pools sound like something you'd enjoy, make sure to look around for an opportunity near you, and you'll want to tune in to next week's episode because I'll be talking vernal pool activities that are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. If you haven't done it yet, sign up for the Science Activity Index so that you have an easy way to find the science activity you need when you need it.

After next week's episode airs, I will make sure to update the Activity Index with those vernal pool activities. There's a link in the show notes for it, so make sure to go there to check it out. Thanks again for taking time to listen today.

I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in. If you have any questions, wonderings or Vernal Pool experiences you'd like to share, get a hold of me on Instagram at naturally.teaching, or you can email me at victoria@naturallyteaching.com. Don't forget to check out the show notes for this episode at naturallyteaching.com/episode46 for all the links that Lindsey mentioned, as well as the link to the Science Activity Index.

Thanks again for joining me today. Until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast.

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