NHESP Potential Vernal Pools

Vernal pools are small, shallow ponds characterized by a lack of fish and annual or semi-annual periods of dryness. Vernal pool habitats are extremely important to a variety of wildlife species, including some amphibians that breed exclusively in vernal pools, and other organisms such as fairy shrimp which spend their entire life cycles confined to such locales. Potential vernal pools visible on aerial photographs were interpreted and included in this layer. However, this datalayer does not include every vernal pool in Massachusetts. Many vernal pools have not been identified due to unfavorable conditions in the landscape topography, pool physiography and/or photograph quality. Furthermore, vernal pool habitats occur in a wide variety of landscape settings, including forested swamps, bogs, and other wetlands. Vernal pools within these settings were not typically interpreted, but are nonetheless legitimate and valuable vernal pools. Also, field verification of all potential vernal pools in this study will identify errors such as the inclusion of features that are not actually vernal pools. Potential vernal pools identified in this survey are not to be confused with Certified Vernal Pools . Data pursuant to the official “Guidelines for the Certification of Vernal Pool Habitat” must be collected in the field and presented to the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program to obtain official certification for a vernal pool. Potential vernal pools identified in this survey do not receive protection under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act Regulations (310 CMR 10.00), or under any other state or federal wetlands protection laws.

春池（vernal pool）是一类小型浅水水体，其典型特征为无鱼类栖息，且每年或每半年会经历干涸阶段。春池生境对多种野生动植物物种具有至关重要的生态意义，其中包含仅在春池中完成繁殖的两栖类动物，以及终生仅栖息于此环境的仙女虾等生物类群。本数据图层纳入了通过航空影像识别出的潜在春池。但本数据图层并未覆盖马萨诸塞州境内所有的春池。受地形地貌、池塘自身形态特征以及影像画质不佳等多重因素制约，大量春池尚未被成功识别。此外，春池生境可分布于多种景观场景中，包括森林沼泽、泥炭沼泽及其他湿地类型。此类环境中的春池通常未被航空影像识别，但它们确属合法且具备生态价值的春池。同时，本研究将对所有潜在春池开展野外验证工作，以排查诸如误将非春池要素纳入数据集等各类错误。本调查识别出的潜在春池，请勿与认证春池（Certified Vernal Pools）相混淆。若要为某春池获取官方认证，需依据《春池生境认证官方指南》（"Guidelines for the Certification of Vernal Pool Habitat"）在野外采集相关数据，并提交至马萨诸塞州自然遗产与濒危物种项目（Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program）进行审核。本调查识别出的潜在春池，不受《马萨诸塞州湿地保护法条例》（310 CMR 10.00）以及其他任何州级或联邦湿地保护法律的保护。